According to Reuters, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday that Alibaba chairman Ma Yun said that the company can no longer fulfill the promise of creating 1 million jobs in the United States.
Ma Yun met with US President Donald Trump two years ago and proposed that Alibaba plans to put 1 million small American companies on Alibaba's platform in the next five years to sell products to Chinese consumers.
Ma Yun told Xinhua that this commitment is based on the Sino-US friendly cooperation and the rationality and objectiveness of bilateral trade. However, the current situation has destroyed the initial premise and there is no way to honor the previous commitments.
Ma Yun said on Tuesday that the US-China trade tension may last for 20 years and will be a 'chaos' for all parties concerned.
He also said that trade tensions may have a negative impact on Chinese and foreign companies immediately, and he predicted that Chinese companies may shift production to other countries in the medium term to avoid tariffs.
Last Monday, Trump announced that it would impose a 10% tariff on goods valued at about $200 billion in China, and threatened to impose tariffs on another $267 billion in goods if China retaliates against US actions.
A day later, China responded by imposing tariffs on US goods valued at about $60 billion, but lowered the tariff levels imposed on these products.
Ma Yun announced that he will resign within one year, focusing on charity and education, and handing over power to trusted Zhang Yong.