Jack Ma warns he won’t be able to create 1 million American jobs if trade war breaks out
When meeting with Trump last year, the Alibaba CEO vowed to create 1 million American jobs within the next five years
Last year, singer, dancer, tai chi master, and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma vowed to create 1 million American jobs, but he now says that his promise will go unfilled if the trade dispute between the US and China continues to get worse.
“My belief is that if trade stops, war starts,” Ma said while seated alongside IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde for a dinner event at the Boao Forum for Asia, which is being held from April 8th to 11th in Hainan province.
“Trade is not about goods, trade is about respecting other cultures. Nobody can stop globalization,” he continued.
When asked about the promise that he made after meeting with Trump at Trump Tower just before Inauguration Day last January of creating 1 million American jobs within the next five years, Ma had this to say:
“If China, USA have a good relationship, we can not only make 1 million, we can make 10 million, 20 million jobs for both countries. If they have no good trade relationship, we’re going to destroy 10 million jobs.”
Ma first launched a major charm offensive at American small business owners back in 2015, declaring Alibaba’s commitment to creating American jobs by helping the “little guy” connect with consumers in the vast global digital marketplace.
In his “stump speech,” Ma mentioned Alaskan fisherman and Washington cherry farmers as just a few examples of local American businesses helped by his company. Ma said that as incomes rise in China, Chinese consumers will increasingly demand higher quality products and a more diverse range of goods. And that’s where American producers come in.
“China has been focused on exporting for the past 20 years, and I think in the next 10 to 20 years China should be focusing on importing. China should learn to buy, China should spend the money, China should buy a lot of its things globally. And I think that American small business, American-branded products, should use the Internet and go to China,” he said.
In retrospect, that vision of the future might be a bit too rosy.
