U.S. President-elect Donald Trump holds meetings at Trump Tower. (Photo : Getty Images)
Alibaba's chief executive Jack Ma and President Donald Trump met on Monday to discuss how Alibaba can help in generating over 1 million jobs for Americans through the Chinese e-commerce giant.
Ma said that Alibaba can help create business platforms that can give many Americans jobs and opportunities for profit.
President Trump's move to meet Jack Ma was a total shift from his accusations of high tariffs on trade with China. Trump also accused the country of stealing jobs from Americans.
The latest issue of Trump and China involved political controversy by moves of violating the one-China policy.
When Trump assumed office, Alibaba was also recently put back on the U.S. "Notorious Markets" list and accused Taobao of selling fake merchandise.
However, the meeting between Ma and Trump seemed to stir a different atmosphere.
"Jack and I are going to do some great things together," Trump said.
He added that they had a "great meeting." He cited Jack Ma as "a great, great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world."
After the meeting, Alibaba tweeted that it "wants to create U.S. jobs by helping U.S. small businesses and farmers sell to China's 300 million-strong middle class."
A recent eMarketer report revealed that Chinese consumers are predicted to buy more than $150 billion on foreign-made products by 2020.
Ma added, "We want to help U.S entrepreneurs, small business owners, and brands and companies of all sizes sell their goods to the growing Chinese consumer class."
He noted that the increase in purchases from Chinese consumers "will help create American jobs and increase U.S. exports."
The U.S. has exported over $500 billion of goods to China in the past five years, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
