Alibaba to help US small businesses export to China

E-commerce giant Alibaba will help US small businesses sell products to China, the world’s largest consumer market, and Asia, especially Southeast Asia, through its platform. The company already enables approximately 10 million merchants, including US companies and farmers, to sell to over 450 million Chinese consumers on its online platform.

After his meeting with US president-elect Donald Trump in New York, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma said, “We talked about supporting one million small businesses to sell on our platform to China and Asia, especially Southeast Asia, where we are pretty big.”

After the 40-minute meeting, Trump said, “We had a great meeting…and (he’s) a great, great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world, and he loves this country, and he loves China.”

China is attractive for small US companies due to the country’s huge market, its rising consumption and an increasing fondness for American products among China’s young population.

Ma said the two shared “ideas about how we can improve trade”. “I told him my ideas about how to improve trade, especially to improve small business, cross border trade.”

“We specifically talked about ... supporting 1 million small businesses, especially in the Midwest of America. Small businesses on the platform selling products -- agriculture products and America services - to China and Asia,” he said. (RKS)