“Japanese display maker Sharp Corp may start building a $7 billion plant in the United States in the first half of 2017, taking the lead on a project initially outlined by its Taiwanese parent Foxconn, a person with knowledge of the plan said,” Makiko Yamazaki reports for Reuters.
“A decision by Foxconn to give Sharp the lead would come as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepares to travel to the United States to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, who in his inauguration speech vowed to put ‘America first,'” Yamazaki reports. “In a package Tokyo hopes will please Trump, Abe will unveil investments to create as many as 700,000 U.S. jobs, people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier.”
“Terry Gou, the chief executive of Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, last month said he was considering investing around $7 billion to build a display-making plant in the United States, but did not elaborate on any time frame,” Yamazaki reports. “He said the issue came up when business partner Masayoshi Son, head of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, talked to Gou before a December meeting Son had with Trump.”
“Trump has raised concerns in Japan by criticizing the scarcity of U.S. cars in its auto market. He has also accused the Tokyo government of using monetary policy to devalue its currency and has also lumped Japan with China and Mexico as big contributors to the U.S. trade deficit,” Yamazaki reports. “Abe will visit Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida over the weekend, where the two leaders will play golf, following a meeting on Friday in Washington.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like things are moving along quickly on this deal.
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