Photo: Mandel Ngan Agence France-Presse US President Joe Biden speaks on investments he wants to make at Gateway Technical College in Wisconsin on May 8, 2024.
Mandel Ngan – Agence France-Presse and Aurélia End – Agence France-Presse in Washington
Published yesterday at 1:49 p.m. Updated yesterday at 10:24 p.m.
- United States
Nothing to do, according to him, with Donald Trump's “scams”: Joe Biden presented Wednesday a large technological investment in Wisconsin, an electorally crucial state, in the very place where his rival had promised a giant factory, which did not see the light of day.
“Under my authority, we make promises, and we keep our promises,” said the American president, formalizing a $3.3 billion project from the giant Microsoft.
Six months before the presidential election which will pit him against the 77-year-old Republican magnate, the 81-year-old Democrat was happy to recall what remains a particularly resounding failure of his predecessor's mandate.
Donald Trump “came here […] with a golden shovel, literally, to promise the “eighth wonder of the world.” No kidding ?,” Joe Biden quipped, using an expression actually used at the time by the Republican at the time of the site’s inauguration. “They dug a hole with those golden shovels and fell in,” he scoffed.
In 2018, the former president announced a huge investment by Taiwanese computer equipment manufacturer Foxconn, which was expected to create 13,000 jobs. The project was unsuccessful.
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“Foxconn has proven to be nothing but a scam,” denounced the American president, who presents himself as the champion of reindustrialization.
Microsoft must build in the town of Racine, in southeastern Wisconsin, a center of servers and services intended for artificial intelligence, which according to the White House will generate 2,300 jobs for its construction, then 2,000 jobs permanent.
“Everything we do here […] derives directly from the work of this White House, of this president,” assured for his part the president of the American technology group, Brad Smith.
“Swing state”
Since its arrived at the White House, Joe Biden launched gigantic public investment programs in infrastructure, in the energy transition and in cutting-edge industries.
The Wisconsin, whose economy is based on both agricultural operations and industrial activities concentrated around Lake Michigan, is the subject of a fierce electoral battle.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday puts Joe Biden in the lead in Wisconsin, with 50% of voting intentions against 44% for Donald Trump in the event of a duel between the two candidates alone.
But the gap narrows to almost nothing (40% for the Democrat and 39% for the Republican) by widening to three other potential candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy.
This “swing state” is one of the handful of states with Arizona or Pennsylvania that hold the keys to the presidential election.
These swing states can lean either for Joe Biden or for Donald Trump, where others are considered to have already won either the Republican or the Democrat. In Wisconsin, for example, the Democrat was ahead of his rival by only 20,682 votes in 2020.
It is no coincidence that the Republican Party chose to hold its nomination convention this summer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Democratic Party chose Chicago, where Joe Biden is also due to go on Wednesday to raise funds.
The Democratic convention in August could take place in a tense atmosphere if the protest movement against the war in Gaza continues.