Outgoing Alibaba chairman and China's wealthiest person, Jack Ma, laid his views on Tuesday about the on-going trade war fought between Washington and Beijing which he speculated to last for more than a decade, a situation that could bring serious problems for both parties involved.
During an Alibaba investors' call in Hangzhou on Tuesday, Ma said that the trade friction between the two major economies will surely impact not only the Chinese companies but those from other countries as well, a Reuters report indicated.
The co-founder of the e-commerce giant reiterated that Chinese businesses will surely be affected by this recent trade spat. In the case of the Internet market, Ma said that Alibaba will suffer the same heat given that the growth of its wholesale business relies heavily on American merchants who buy products coming from the Asian nation.
He further speculated that home-grown firms might resort to moving its manufacturing operations to other countries in a bid to circumvent the tariffs from the White House - a strategy which he considers to be a middle term solution.
In his statement, Ma said that although Chinese firms may win the small conflict by bypassing some rules, they may still have to fight for the larger war looming up ahead.
The business magnate said that in the long term, the situation would change and with it, the need to come up with a new set of rules. Even with a new leadership steering the wheel, the economic spite believed to be instigated by the Trump administration will continue to run perhaps for 20 more years, he said.
Should this be the case, a new set of trade rules should be implemented by the World Trade Organization.
As cited over at Bloomberg, Ma believed that for China to preserve its economy while dealing with the conflict, the country should shift its trade relations away from the US and instead put the focus on other regions such as neighboring Southeast Asia as well as in Africa.
Ma's comments came following Beijing's announcement that it would retaliate against the White House for its plan to slap additional duties on USD$200 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Just this Monday, the office of the POTUS announced the implementation of 10 percent additional tax on these Chinese imports starting next week, Sept. 24. The rate is slated to increase by 25 percent by the end of 2018.
The Chinese tariffs, meanwhile, will take effect on the same date.
