TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Foxconn CEO and current KMT presidential primary candidate will be visiting the White House this week where he may meet with Donald Trump to discuss the Wisconsin Foxconn facility.
Reuters reported on April 30 that the visit is related to Gou’s “Wisconsin investment,” however a meeting between Gou and Trump has not been confirmed as of publication.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evars expects that Gou will meet with Trump, and jokingly speculated that Gou may be there to get some election campaign tips from Trump, since the two are friends, and Gou is currently running for the KMT nomination ahead of the presidential election in Taiwan.
A statement from Foxconn on the trip was reported by U.S. media outlet Journal Sentinel.
"As part of normal business operations, Foxconn regularly engages with its stakeholders in state and federal government. However, details of these interactions cannot be disclosed for privacy and commercial (sic) in confidence reasons.”
In recent months, there has been mounting concern surrounding the construction of the Foxconn facility, with scrutiny over the investment deal made between the state of Wisconsin and Foxconn under the administration of previous governor, Scott Walker.
Current Governor Evars recently questioned whether Foxconn would be able to make good on its promise to employ 13,000 people in the Mount Pleasant area of the state, calling such a projection unrealistic.
However, in recent days, Evars has been slightly more optimistic towards the Foxconn project. Evars now says he has clarity on the project, and expects it will succeed in providing new jobs, but perhaps not as many as previously advertised.
In recent months, Foxconn has been reconsidering plans for the US$10 billion dollar facility and may be hiring more engineers and researchers, rather than a robust manufacturing labor force, reports Reuters.
Evars said he was unaware of what Gou and Trump would be discussing, reports WPR.
As Terry Gou moves forward with his presidential campaign in Taiwan, many observers are concerned that Gou’s political ambitions may hurt the business operations of his company.
According to a report from Liberty Times, Foxconn’s ranking by the Corporate Governance Review has dropped significantly over the past year. In 2018, Foxconn was in the top 6 to 20th percentile on the corporate governance scale, dropping into the 20 to 35th percentile in 2019, and falling behind 174 other major global firms.