President Elect Trump And Alibaba Start Off Quasi-China Trade Talks On A Positive Note

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, is not a representative of the Chinese government, however his company could easily be considered the de facto face of Chinese entrepreneurship given its global footprint and brand recognition.

Just about two weeks ago I wrote an article on these very pages that speculated that the United States Trade Representative's office might have yet again put Alibaba on its list of notorious marketplaces so as to curry favor with the incoming administration of President elect Donald Trump.

Here's what Ambassador Michael Froman said in the press release at the time:

“Tens of millions of American jobs and several trillion dollars of our gross domestic product rely on American creative and innovative industries,” said Ambassador Michael Froman.  “The marketplaces, tactics, and schemes that undermine and threaten America’s creative industries change quickly and require our constant attention. Our Notorious Markets List highlights key examples of online and physical markets all over the world that are linked to significant infringement of American businesses’ intellectual property rights.  The 2016 List takes stock of emerging infringement models and adds stream-ripping sites and piracy apps to the list of the most damaging digital marketplaces.”

Ironically, Alibaba has been put back on the list despite having made serious in-roads into preventing counterfeiting and fraudulent goods being sold on its websites.

I end that article with a statement (only half in jest) that maybe Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, should meet with President-elect Trump and stop the negativity surrounding the company in its tracks.

It seems either Jack Ma himself or his people have read the article and that is exactly what happened yesterday. Jack Ma met President Donald Trump yesterday in New York and discussed how Alibaba could help the PEOTUS add a million jobs here at home by helping our home-grown small to medium businesses sell their goods and services to the massive Chinese consumer base using Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.