The Taiwanese manufacturer had claimed to be in process of building a $7bn American plant after Trump met with Japanese tech billionaire last year

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn has appeared to back away from claims it is preparing to build a $7bn factory in the US.

News of the plant, which could create some 30,000 to 50,000 American manufacturing jobs, first surfaced last year after a meeting between now President Donald Trump and the Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, head of Japanese telecom and tech investment giant SoftBank.

There is such a plan, but it is not a promise. It is a wish, Foxconns chief executive officer, Terry Gou, told reporters on Sunday. Gou added that he wanted guarantees of inexpensive land and electricity before the company made its investment and warned against US protectionism, according to Reuters.

Trump promised to bring jobs to the US and repeatedly singled out Apple for its use of Chinese manufacturers Foxconn among them in stump speeches across the country during his campaign.

The US president has taken an aggressive stance toward China, saying the country has stolen American jobs. He has repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs on goods imported from the country.

But Foxconns Chinese holdings are vital to its interest. The company is one of Apples largest suppliers and China is now Apples largest iPhone market. Gou, the company chairman often referred to in the press as Taiwans Donald Trump, is likely to run for president of Taiwan in 2020, according to multiple reports. The executive ardently favors unifying China and Taiwan, which would further his own business interests Foxconn owns manufacturing facilities, which have been heavily criticized for their harsh working conditions, in the city of Shenzhen in Chinas Guangdong province.

Negotiations with the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer are likely to be complicated not only because of the diversity of Foxconns holdings but also because of Trumps decision to scrap the complex Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement with Vietnam, Japan and others but not China by executive order on Monday.

The decision has made China itself the leading international trade advocate in the Asia-Pacific region; President Xi Jinping told attendees at the Davos world economic forum that China would pursue regional agreements in stark contrast to the Trump administrations commitment to negotiating only with individual nations.

In March 2016, Foxconn finalized its acquisition of Japanese electronics giant Sharp; the subsidiary company is said to be contracted to manufacture the high-resolution OLED screens planned for the iPhone 8. The US facility would also be run by Sharp, were it ever to take shape.

This is not the first time Gou has said he wanted to build a facility in the US. In 2013, Foxconn promised to invest over $30m to build a high-tech manufacturing facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, according to a Bloomberg report. The plant never materialized.

Gous current wish clarifies a promise of investment made from Trumps side by Softbanks Son, who is also chairman of US telecoms company Sprint. Son met Trump in December and said amid much fanfare that he would commit $50bn to investment in US startups and create tens of thousands of jobs.

Much of that financial commitment turned out to be from Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth, but Son showed reporters a page with the Foxconn logo on it promising an additional $7bn over four years in Sundays interview, Gou said the page was apparently a reference to a conversation with Son. I thought it was a private conversation, but then the next morning it was exposed, Gou said in the Reuters report.

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