Biden campaign hits Trump over failed Foxconn project ahead of Wisconsin visit

President Biden’s reelection campaign hit former President Trump over his administration’s efforts to bring a Foxconn facility to Wisconsin ahead of the former president’s rally in the state Tuesday.

“Donald Trump was a disaster for working families across Wisconsin, and his plans to cut taxes for billionaires and corporations will make life even more expensive if he’s given the chance,” said Ammar Moussa, Biden’s rapid response director.

“Trump is in this race for himself and his rich friends — not the American people,” Moussa added.

Technology company Foxconn announced in 2017 it planned to invest $10 billion for a facility and Trump’s visited in 2018, during which he predicted the Foxconn campus would be the “eighth wonder of the world” and used a golden shovel for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

The project was eventually scaled back to less than $700 million, and the number of jobs created from the project was slashed from 13,000 to roughly 1,500. Then, Microsoft bought the land originally slated for the facility in April 2023 for a project that the Biden White House estimates will create 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs.

“He failed. The jobs never came,” the Biden campaign said in its email Tuesday. “This isn’t the only time Donald Trump screwed over workers when he was president — his economic agenda shuttered factories and incentivized companies to ship American jobs overseas all while handing out tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy and big companies.”

Biden visited the site, now owned by Microsoft, in May and also mocked Trump over the failed Foxconn project.

“Are you kidding me? Look what happened,” Biden said. “They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it.”

The Republican National Committee (RNC) criticized Biden’s polling numbers in Wisconsin in response to the campaign’s comments. Biden has a 1.3 percent lead over Trump in Wisconsin, based on an aggregation of polls from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill.

“Joe Biden’s policies have led to higher prices, lower wages, and a stalled manufacturing industry for families in Racine – and they’ve translated to rock-bottom approval for Biden across Wisconsin. Racine County voters delivered for President Trump in 2016 and 2020, and today, it will be clearer than ever that they are ready to help send Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes to the GOP column this fall,” RNC spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

Updated at 10:05 a.m. EDT