Posted on 01/10/2017 1:01:25 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President-elect Donald Trump's meeting with Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma on Monday was brilliant — but not for the obvious reason of making him look good for being part of a conversation about creating 1 million jobs. What's really smart about it is that puts China on its heels.
Trump and Beijing have been engaged in a back-and-forth rattling of sabers from the minute Trump won the election. Remember that Trump took a congratulatory call from Taiwan's president and on the same day Trump met with Ma, a state-run Chinese tabloid warned that China would "take revenge" if Trump backed out of the one-China policy.
Enter Ma, who represents something much more dangerous to China than Taiwan ever could: An idea. In this case, the idea of individualism. And the fact that Ma and Trump discussed the even more individualistic topic of global small business entrepreneurship puts an exclamation point on it all.
Ma, Alibaba, and the Chinese government definitely have one of those "it's complicated" kind of relationships. The company became a worldwide powerhouse in large part due to the way Ma deftly handled the Chinese government. To please shareholders, Ma and Alibaba must not look like they're running afoul of Beijing in any meaningful way. But to please customers, the company has to make sure it provides as open a market as possible to exchange goods and services. It's not easy, and Alibaba's stock price has, as a result, had its volatile ups and downs during the less than two-and-a-half years since its IPO.
From China's perspective, Alibaba and Ma may be something of a necessary evil. No, they're not the kind of large corporation and boss made up of very easily-defined parts that are easier to control....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
It puts Jeff Bezos on notice that he CAN BE REPLACED.
Alibaba has both the ability, AND THE MONEY, to compete against Amazon nationwide.
Definitely complicated.
I hope people are watching. Trump really knows where the pressure points are. I think he has the Machiavelli thing down pat. He will be loved by his supporters and feared by his enemies.
You hear that Hollywood? Bezos? MSM?
LOL, you make an understatement....
My attempts to use Alibaba to buy stuff have all ended in zero!
Amazon is like snapping your fingers by comparison.
Trump knows Jack!
Chinese business owners will jump at the chance to relocate their high tech manufacturing operations to the United States where they will be safe
Trump is giving them an excuse
Amazon makes its money with Amazon Web Services. Bezos has no worries of being toppled. But good for consumers to break up Amazon’s retail monopoly.
Hopefully the Europeans take note, also.
Especially if we allow them to have permanent residence or citizenship
Pretty much every European entrepreneur (rare as they are) I have talked to is frustrated with the lack of opportunity in Europe and feel that there is little to no future there for them.
The #1 Cloud Computing platform in the world -- and still growing. I'd be curious to know how much profit Amazon makes with their Cloud Computing platform vs. their online retail services.
And I agree: I don't think Jeff Bezos is worried about Jack Ma.
It’s funny how eBay is not even in these conversations anymore but that just goes to show how far they have fallen in perspective.
Politically, I can’t stand Bezos but I do have to commend him on how he developed Amazon’s business the right way without damaging it by succumbing to investor pressure.
Meg Whitman and her successor ran eBay in to the ground by constantly putting the squeeze on their sellers in order to make the quarterlies and themselves look good. They did much damage to their marketplace with so many bad policies aimed at short-term profits. All that succeeded was long-term damage as eBay seems much like a ghost town for many categories these days when it comes to items being sold there.
This is where Wall Street needs some reform where CEO’s only look at the short-term but fail to address companies long-term and damage long-term investment. At least Bezos was smart enough to weigh both.
I remember in the beginning Amazon investors were mad because, while he was growing the business, the early returns were disappointing. At least those who invested and understood what Bezos was accomplishing, are well pleased with their investment now.
CGato
I agree 100%. “eBay seems much like a ghost town for many categories.” True. Bezos is a winner at business and a loser at politics, like so many actors and singers.
I hate to say this. But is anyone else thinking that Trump may become one the greatest Presidents in history? Maybe even surpassing men like Reagan, Coolidge, Polk, and Jackson in terms of getting things done? Look at what he’s done - BEFORE TAKING OFFICE. Look at his cabinet appointments.
Does Amazon have a viable competitor with respect to web based services? If so, Trump will open things up for competitors. If not, there’s always anti-trust and the IRS.
Playing globalist companies off each other is a great strategy. Then the globalists will become more concerned with competing for business than buying off governments.
Very interesting read. :)
This makes Trump look like a hero, no matter the real life implementation.
China promises to send us back jobs! is the headline and only looks like a massive victory.
As one headline read, Trump has created more jobs via a bully pulpit and companies promising to move them back to the US or expand here than Obama has officially created via government programs (and we’ll ignore the “saved” jobs numbers)
Oh, yeah. Trump's background as a rare business tycoon gives him the experience to accomplish quite a bit. And you're right, he isn't even in office yet.
My wife watches Japanese television NHK, and Trump seems to be the major topic of discussion on the political talk shows. They seem to take a queue from CNN and portray him as a dangerous Godzilla. But I thin the Japanese will eventually come around especially if Trump continues to win.
Japanese value a law-abiding society and have a very strong immigration control policy. Very hard to immigrate there.
Prime Minister Abe is trying to get the Japanese to take more care of their own self-defense, so that plays into Trump's policy plans of reducing "world policeman" costs.
Alibaba is a B2B business platform - and a pretty good one. AliExpress is for just buying stuff - and it’s pretty good, too. You can end up with cheap crap...or really good products. Just like on Amazon. :)
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