He laid the bedrock for the modern luxury industry, and has since softened his public image, inviting the public inside the couture ateliers and Champagne estates of his brands during special “Heritage Days” events, and establishing a contemporary art museum in the Bois de Boulogne — the Fondation Louis Vuitton — which will become a gift to the city of Paris in about 45 years. But he also made news last month when he publicly scolded Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist, for “surrendering completely to catastrophism.”

He has also long played in the corridors of power. Aside from the current French president, Mr. Macron, he also was close to a previous president, Nicolas Sarkozy , as well as Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. (Mr. Trump asked Mr. Arnault to “say hello to Emmanuel” for him, despite the fact “we have our little disputes every once in a while.”) Yet Mr. Arnault has never been as public about his alignment with Mr. Trump, or that of his most prominent brand, as he was in Texas.

Rewards

Plans for the Texas factory, which is called the Louis Vuitton Rochambeau Ranch after Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau , a general who was in charge of the French forces in America during the Revolutionary War, were developed in 2017. Originally, the land was known as the Rockin’ Z Ranch.

Vuitton, which is the most valuable luxury brand in the world according to Forbes, is the largest brand in the LVMH stable of more than 70 fashion, beauty, alcohol and hospitality names. LVMH, which had 2018 revenues of 46.8 billion euros (almost $52 billion), has 754 stores and employs approximately 33,000 people in the United States alone. And it invested $1 billion in the country’s economy last year in salaries, taxes and real estate, according to Mr. Arnault.

There are already two Louis Vuitton workshops in California in San Dimas and Irwin (for the last 30 years, approximately half the bags Vuitton sold in the United States have been made in the United States), and the company has had what Mr. Burke called a “special relationship” with the United States since Georges Vuitton , son of Louis, attended the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 . Company executives had been looking for another American base of operations to satisfy local demand in what is their largest market.

They considered North Carolina, but chose to buy the approximately 265 acres in Texas instead, in part because of its central location and, they said, coast al accessibility, and in part because of Texas’ history as a leatherworking center. Part of the deal was a 10-year, 75 percent tax abatement of about $91,900 a year, though Mr. Burke said that was immaterial. The county also agreed to widen the local roads, add a roundabout for Vuitton trucks, put in high-speed internet cables and add streetlights.