Jack Ma tears up plans to make 1m American jobs
Jack Ma has reneged on a promise to create one million American jobs, citing a breakdown in US-China relations.
Ma promised the recruitment drive during a meeting with Mr Trump in January 2017 but made a U-turn amid an ongoing trade war, a move that is certain to rattle President Donald Trump.
"The promise was made on the premise of friendly US-China partnership and rational trade relations," Ma told Chinese newspaper Xinhua on Wednesday.
"That premise no longer exists today, so our promise cannot be fulfilled."
Ma, a former teacher who has become China's richest man, said that he would continue "working hard to contribute to the healthy development of China-US trade.
His comments come after Trump escalated the trade row on Tuesday, when he announced fresh tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods as the two countries failed to reach a deal to resolve concerns over China's trade practices and copyright issues.
The new tariffs will be imposed on nearly 40pc of goods China sells to the US and consumers could expect to see prices for handbags, furniture, bicycle tyres and air conditioning units rise as a result. An extra 10pc will be slapped onto imports from September 24, which will rise to 25pc at the start of 2019. The US had already imposed tariffs on $50bn worth of Chinese imports.
Ma founded Alibaba, which offers small businesses a platform to trade in 1999. It has become China's answer to Amazon, worth $420bn. Ma, who said he will step down next year, has been a vocal advocate for Chinese technology companies ramping up research and development in order to avoid losing out to the US.
