Alibaba pledges to bring US$200 billion of goods into China over next five years

Alibaba Group Holding said it will help bring US$200 billion worth of products from more than 120 countries into China over the next five years to help meet the rising demand of Chinese consumers for high-quality international goods.

Between 2019 and 2023, Alibaba will help import from businesses of all sizes in countries such as Germany, Japan, Australia, US, and South Korea, the Hangzhou, China-based company said in a statement.

“We not only want to achieve sales innovation behind the US$200 billion, but also want to achieve the innovation of the digital supply chain,” Daniel Zhang Yong, Alibaba’s chief executive, said in a speech on Tuesday at the Global Import Leadership Summit in Shanghai. “Through the combination of cooperating with partners in the digital supply chain and the consumer market, we will realise the dream of from grass to glass, from farm to table, and the dream of digital and innovative imports.”

Alibaba’s pledge for step up imports comes a day after China’s president Xi Jinping made fresh promises to open the world’s second-biggest economy to the outside world, including lowering import tariffs and broadening market access, and voiced support for economic globalisation.

US President Donald Trump has blamed China for “unfair trade policies”, which he claims to have caused a huge trade deficit for the US. On Monday, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma, an outspoken critic of the trade war, again slammed the conflict as the “most stupid thing in the world.”