How Nikki Haley Went From Friend to Foe of Government Aid for Boeing

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.—Nikki Haley frequently questions the use of public money to help corporations as she campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, but her tone was significantly different when it came to interests in South Carolina.

As a state legislator and candidate for governor, Ms. Haley supported a 2009 economic development package for Boeing Co. valued at as much as $900 million that helped land the company’s 787 Dreamliner production facility in this city. A few years later, as governor, she signed into law an additional $120 million for the aerospace company as part of an expansion.

After accepting a seat on Boeing’s board of directors following her time in the Trump administration, she became an opponent of the company’s potential request for government assistance as the possibility of her 2024 presidential bid loomed, abruptly quitting the board and publicly criticizing the idea of government aid.

It isn’t unusual for conservative politicians, whether governors trying to lure companies to their states or members of Congress looking to secure funding for special projects back home, to confront tensions between their support for limited government and parochial interests.

Still, as voters examine the emerging GOP field, Ms. Haley’s record on Boeing has led some to portray the former governor and United Nations ambassador as someone prone to reversals and tied to the corporate establishment.

Taylor Budowich, who leads a political-action committee backing former President Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House, said in a statement after Ms. Haley entered the race that she resigned her U.N. post to “go rake in money on corporate boards” and that she is a “career politician whose only fulfilled commitment is to herself.”