China’s Jack Ma plans to sway Trump on trade, globalisation

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said he planned to convince US President Donald Trump about the benefits of globalisation and cross-border trade – and hoped to provide the proof within three years.

Ma made the bold prediction as he briefed a small group of ­reporters about his trip to Detroit, and touched on his meeting with Trump in January.

When describing the January meeting, Ma said: “Trump very much cares about the small- and medium-sized company exporting. My thinking is that if we prove that we can achieve something by helping American small businesses export to China and helping small businesses sell things to Asia and to other countries, he will change.”

Ma and Trump met at the president’s New York residence in January. During their 40-minute conversation, they avoided the subject of globalisation, focusing instead on ways to boost exports of products made by small US companies to China, Ma said.

“Today, it’s no good to debate. I have my saying that globalisation is good and increasing globalisation is critical, free trade is fine, and someone says, ‘No, we’ll have to prove it’,” he said. “I think in the next three years, we will prove that small and medium companies doing cross-border trade and increasing globalisation is the solution to our problems. I think he will learn.”