President Donald Trump’s promises of a manufacturing comeback have fallen flat in the key battleground state of Wisconsin. Despite his pledge to boost manufacturing and prevent factories from closing or moving overseas, the opposite has occurred.
“He ran on bringing all these jobs back to America. None of it has materialized. Fewer jobs materialized. He’s proven he’s not a friend of labor. He’s not a friend of workers,” said Ross Winklbauer, a sub-district director for the United Steelworkers labor union in southeastern Wisconsin.
In 2016, Trump was able to narrowly win the Badger State on a promise to increase manufacturing jobs, keep plants from closing, and make factories return operations to U.S. shores. But since he took office — and even before the pandemic hit — manufacturing jobs were up by just 3.2 percent, trailing the national average by nearly one full percentage point.
“I don’t think he’s fulfilled it all. There have been plant closings: Telsmith, Briggs & Stratton, all the steelworks are closing or have been diminished,” said Chris Chappelle, a welder at the Komatsu mining equipment manufacturing plant in Milwaukee and president of the local chapter of United Steelworkers.
“I have an aptitude for manufacturing,” Trump said in June at Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin, where several new smaller class naval combat ships are being built. “And I said it’s got to come back, and it will come back. And we were doing great. And we’ll do now even better.”
But Trump's biggest manufacturing promise in Wisconsin has also been his most controversial. At a White House ceremony in 2017, Trump announced a $10 billion deal with Taiwan-based electronics producer Foxconn to create a massive plant outside Milwaukee, brokered by former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. The package included a 20-million square foot factory, a mini-village, 13,000 jobs — and $3 billion in tax incentives for Foxconn.
However, the company has so far only hired 281 people. According to government records requested and reported on by The Verge, the central manufacturing facility shows no sign of production and “may be better suited for demonstration purposes.” Last month, Wisconsin denied the first part of the tax credit.
“He brought in this Foxconn deal and made a big deal out of it — and it’s sitting empty,” Chappelle said.
When Covid-19 hit, 40,000 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin disappeared. Only half of those positions have since been regained. Mining customers in South America stopped or reduced operations as the virus exploded across the continent, forcing manufacturers to come up with a solution for their thousands of workers. At Komatsu, union and management negotiated for 13 unpaid days off in order to protect both working families and the business so it didn’t have to scramble to find talent when orders resume.