No chance of trade war between China and US, says Jack Ma in Davos

No chance of trade war between China and US, says Jack Ma in DavosChina and the United States are not about to be drawn into a trade war, Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

“China and (the) US will never have a trade war. Give Trump some time. He’s open minded,” Ma told a panel at the meeting of business and political leaders in the Swiss Alps.

Ma’s speech comes about a week after he met US president-elect Donald Trump in New York, offering the company’s e-commerce platform to help US businesses sell products to Asia. Such businesses had the potential to create up to 1 million American jobs, he said.

The consequences of a trade war between the world’s largest and second-largest economies would be so grave that Ma said he’d even sacrifice his own company, Alibaba, if that would prevent such a conflict.

Trump has promised to impose stiff tariffs on nations like China and Mexico that he deems have an unfair advantage over the U.S. He has pressured U.S. companies to keep and create jobs in the country and has criticised American businesses that have operations abroad, threatening punitive import tariffs, which could lead other countries to retaliate with their own tariffs, sparking a global trade war.

Alibaba has a large part of its business tied to the U.S., giving it a strong incentive to avoid a situation in which Trump puts his campaign rhetoric into practice.

Ma said he and Trump didn’t specifically discuss trade earlier this month when the two met in New York, or Trump’s labelling of China as a currency manipulator, or the U.S. losing jobs to countries like China.

“In America there is freedom of speech so he can say whatever he wants,” the Chinese billionaire said. “I respect and understand, but of course I have my views.”

Ma also defended Alibaba’s efforts to counter piracy on its sites after being recently put back on the list of “Notorious Markets” compiled by the U.S. Office of the Trade.

“Fighting against fake products is a war against human greediness,” Ma said at Davos. “It’s not easy and you can’t finish it,” he said. “Whether people criticise me, criticise us, the most important is that we are happy about the progress we’ve made.”

President Xi Jinping addressed the Davos forum yesterday, using the platform to vigorously defend globalisation. He said no winner would emerge from a trade war.

(REUTERS)