Alibaba’s Jack Ma cuts 1 million jobs (promised) to US

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of Chinese retail giant Alibaba, says the company no longer plans to create 1 million jobs in the United States in the wake of the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S. and China.

Ma made his original job creation pronouncement during a high-profile meeting with Donald Trump in January 2017 before Trump’s inauguration as president.

“The promise was made on the premise of friendly US-China partnership and rational trade relations,” Ma told Chinese news site Xinhua on Wednesday. “That premise no longer exists today, so our promise cannot be fulfilled.”

After failing to reach a deal with China on trade conditions, the US finalized a new round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imported goods on Monday. The new tariffs impose a 10 percent tax when goods first arrive in the US that rises to 25 percent by the end of the year. The tariffs affect nearly every US company doing business with China.

The Alibaba executive’s comments come the day after the trade war escalated further. On Monday, Trump announced a 10% tariff on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. On Tuesday, Beijing came back with tariffs on another $60 billion worth of US goods.

Given the relative lack of talks between the two sides, the likelihood of the trade war subsiding anytime soon is slim.

Alibaba’s original promise was predicated on the idea that by giving US small businesses more access to the Chinese market through Alibaba, the platform could help job growth in America. Many analysts were skeptical, but Trump touted it as a sign that his economic policies would help the US.

Given China’s counter-tariffs and the push for Chinese firms to find alternative, non-US sources for goods, the already optimistic pledge would be even more unlikely in the current environment.

Ma, the cofounder of Alibaba, announced in early September that he would step down from his role as chairman at the end of the year to focus on philanthropy.