Jack Ma, Trade War Is The Stupidest Thing In The World

The co-founder of the Chinese multinational conglomerate, Jack Ma, gestures as he attends an international investment conference in Johannesburg on October 26, 2018. – South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has wooed investors to the recession-hit country, assuring them their money would be safe amid fears sparked by government plans to expropriate white-owned land without compensation. Shortly after he took over from the scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma in February, Ramaphosa launched an ambitious drive to raise some $100 billion in new investment over the next five years.

The US-China trade war is the “stupidest thing in the world,” Alibaba e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma declared at an import fair that China opened on Monday, partly to counter foreign criticism of its trade policies.

Jack Ma, who recently took back an earlier pledge to create a million jobs in the US — blaming the trade war launched by Donald Trump — made the comments in a panel discussion at the massive expo in Shanghai.

“(The) trade war is the most stupid thing in this world,” the Alibaba founder said, without mentioning Trump’s name.

“Trade is to form … peace. Trade is to communicate…nobody can stop free trade.”

President Xi Jinping opened the China International Import Expo earlier Monday with a vague pledge to widen access to his country’s economy, as Beijing faces growing impatience from trading partners.

But he also delivered a veiled rebuke to Trumpism, decrying “protectionism”, “isolationism” and “the law of the jungle.”

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Jack Ma, the billionaire owner of China’s largest online shopping portal, made the headline-grabbing job-creation promise to Trump last year, when Beijing was still courting the then-newly elected president.

But Ma told official news agency Xinhua in September that the trade war had “destroyed the premise the promise was made on.”

Anger over the trade surpluses that China enjoys has triggered growing foreign criticism and the worsening commercial conflict with Washington, which has seen both sides impose punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods.

Beijing has touted the first annual import expo as a sign of its willingness to take in more imports and thereby reduce the surpluses.

Jack Ma, who announced in September that he would step aside in a year’s time to focus on philanthropy, said China’s plans to remake itself as an importing nation would provoke resistance from vested interests.

“For my understanding, it’s the greatest challenge for China. It’s a great opportunity for the world,” he said.

The shift will “fundamentally change … the whole infrastructure of business and (the) ecosystem. It’s going to be a huge pain to a lot of businesses, but it’s also going to be a good opportunity for a lot of consumers.”

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