Here’s some news you might not have expected today: Alibaba founder Jack Ma just met with American president-elect Donald Trump.
Photo credit: John Landers on WeChat.
The pair reportedly discussed Alibaba’s plans to bring more jobs to the United States. After the talk, Trump told reporters that it was “a great meeting” and that Ma is “a great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world.”
The meeting comes as a bit of a surprise because Donald Trump has been pretty blustery when it comes to criticizing China and Chinese companies. On his campaign website, he called on the US to go after Chinese companies for IP violations. Given that, some might be surprised to see him meeting with the founder of a company that just found its way back onto the US Trade Representative’s “Notorious Markets” list.
It’s possible that Alibaba was able to secure this meeting with Trump thanks in part to its connections with Jay Clayton. Clayton is Trump’s nominee to run the SEC, but he has previously worked with Alibaba as part of his legal practice, and was part of the team that helped with Alibaba’s US$25 billion IPO.
Watch: Ma talks shop with President-elect at Trump Tower
Editing by Steven Millward
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
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