Ohio rumors fly as Wis. fi nalizes deal

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says his state succeeded in attracting a massive investment from Foxconn despite being outbid in tax incentives by at least one unspecified state.

But he provided no details, such as the name of the state or how he is aware of the competing incentive packages.

The comments, reported on Tuesday by The Associated Press, have implications for Ohio, where officials continue to work to attract Taiwan-based Foxconn for a separate project.

Wisconsin’s incentive package, officially introduced Tuesday, totals more than $3 billion, which is a

staggeringly large amount.

The Wisconsin State Legislature is working this week on a proposal that would turn the promised incentives into a reality.

Walker’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Speculation that Ohio could be the unspecified state arose in part because of a Friday report in the Milwaukee Business Journal. In that story, Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, was quoted saying Ohio offered $4 billion.

However, Sheehy backed off from those comments when contacted by The Dispatch. He said that the statement was made “in the rushed back-and-forth with media inquiries” and that he has no basis for the $4 billion figure.

“We have no facts as to what the state of Ohio offered or did not offer as it relates to an incentive package,” he said in an email, and added that the “project scope Ohio was dealing with may have been different” from the one in Wisconsin.

Last week, The Dispatch reported that Foxconn is continuing to look at central Ohio, according to sources familiar with the talks. The potential project would be in addition to the one in Wisconsin.

A spokesman for JobsOhio, Ohio’s private economicdevelopment company, declined to comment.

That office, and other state officials, have been mum about Foxconn, declining even to confirm that talks are taking place, even after Foxconn named Ohio as one of the states it was considering.

Foxconn did not respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump casually mentioned Tuesday to a group of small-business leaders at the White House that Foxconn’s chairman told him in confidence that the company’s investment could reach $30 billion. He didn’t say whether that included investments in other plants not yet announced.

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou “told me off the record he thinks he may go $30 billion,” Trump said, later adding, “I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.”