President Trump and Foxconn chief Terry Gou announce the $10 billion Wisconsin investment plans in July 2017 (SAUL LOEB)

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump on Friday cheered the “great news” that Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn said it was going ahead with plans for a major factory in Wisconsin.

The company announced that following a conversation between Trump and Foxconn chief Terry Gou it was “moving forward with our planned construction of a Gen 6 fab facility.”

It was a reversal from news earlier this week that the company was scaling back its plans to open a factory and create manufacturing jobs.

“Great news on Foxconn in Wisconsin after my conversation with Terry Gou!” Trump tweeted.

The reports that plans were being scaled back were a blow to the administration since it Trump had publicly claimed credit for the investment, which was backed by $4 billion in controversial local tax breaks.

Foxconn, which makes devices and components for a host of major tech firms including Apple, had planned to build a factory producing LCD flat screen televisions and create around 13,000 jobs.

Trump bragged about the plan and appeared alongside Gou at a groundbreaking ceremony last summer wielding golden shovels.

The company previously said the changing global economic climate — roiled by Trump’s trade war with China where Foxconn has most of its assembly lines — prompted it to revise its original plans.

But the firm now says it is going ahead after “productive discussions between the White House and the company, and after a personal conversation between President Donald J. Trump and Chairman Terry Gou,” according to the statement, which was published Friday in media reports. 

“This campus will serve both as an advanced manufacturing facility as well as a hub of high technology innovation for the region.”

Foxconn said the decision also was based on a “comprehensive and systematic evaluation to help determine the best fit for our Wisconsin project.”

It did not provide details on employment or products, although it said it intended to “broaden our investment across Wisconsin far beyond our original plans.”

Media reports earlier this week quoted Louis Woo, an assistant to Gou, suggesting the company might scrap the flat screen factory in favor of hiring more high-skilled engineers for research and development — a move that would lead to far fewer blue-collar jobs and run counter to Trump’s promises.

Foxconn, officially known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world’s largest contract-electronics manufacturer and assembles most of its products in China, leaving it acutely vulnerable to Trump’s tariffs.

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