Alibaba opens door to US sellers on its oldest platform

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Chinese e-commerce big Alibaba has opened its doorways to US sellers on its oldest platform, Alibaba.com.

It now affords instruments to enable US corporations to promote on the business-to-business platform within the US and globally.

The transfer will enable Alibaba, historically China-focused, to compete with world e-commerce giants like Amazon.

Alibaba.com says it has 10 million lively enterprise consumers in additional than 190 nations and areas.

As a part of the announcement on Tuesday, Alibaba.com mentioned US produce agency Robinson Fresh could be becoming a member of the platform on 23 July.

That follows a “strategic collaboration” between Alibaba.com and US places of work provide agency Office Depot introduced in March, it mentioned.

Previously, US companies primarily purchased from Chinese sellers on the Alibaba.com platform, which caters to small and medium-sized corporations.

The new instruments, which embrace an internet funds system, will give American corporations entry to new clients in China and world wide.

US-China relations

The transfer comes at a time of tense relations between the US and China, which have been preventing a commerce battle for the previous yr.

Two years in the past, Alibaba founder Jack Ma met with US President Donald Trump and outlined a plan to improve the agency’s presence in America, in addition to strengthen relations between the 2 nations.

At the time, Alibaba mentioned entry to Chinese clients by way of its on-line market would assist US companies and assist create as many as a million new jobs.

But in September final yr Mr Ma rowed again on these plans, citing the continued commerce battle between the US and China.

Tensions between the 2 nations have continued to simmer this yr, however either side just lately agreed to maintain a contemporary spherical of commerce talks.