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Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma says his company no longer plans to help the US economy add one million jobs, which is something he had promised President Trump during a meeting in early 2017.

Ma never claimed Alibaba would hire a million Americans. Instead, he wanted to help increase trade with Asia, thus enabling US small businesses to hire more people.

The bottom line: Ma tells Xinhua News Agency that the Chinese Internet giant's commitment was based on friendly U.S.-Chinese relations, but that subsequent trade tensions "destroyed the original premise."

Alibaba bails on pledge to create one million U.S. jobs

The Chinese internet giant had promised Trump, but that was before the trade war.

Alibaba's Jack Ma. Photo by Wang He/Getty Images.

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Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma says his company no longer plans to help the US economy add one million jobs, which is something he had promised President Trump during a meeting in early 2017.<ul><li>Ma never claimed Alibaba would hire a million Americans. Instead, he <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="wanted to help increase trade with Asia" data-vars-click-url="https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/09/technology/trump-alibaba-jack-ma/index.html?iid=EL" data-vars-content-id="22461288-60f9-4bbc-85d5-52798cad770b" data-vars-headline="Alibaba bails on pledge to create one million U.S. jobs" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/09/technology/trump-alibaba-jack-ma/index.html?iid=EL" target="_blank">wanted to help increase trade with Asia</a>, thus enabling US small businesses to hire more people.</li></ul>The bottom line: Ma <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="tells Xinhua News Agency" data-vars-click-url="http://www.xinhuanet.com/2018-09/19/c_1123456015.htm" data-vars-content-id="22461288-60f9-4bbc-85d5-52798cad770b" data-vars-headline="Alibaba bails on pledge to create one million U.S. jobs" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/2018-09/19/c_1123456015.htm" target="_blank">tells Xinhua News Agency</a> that the Chinese Internet giant&#x27;s commitment was based on friendly U.S.-Chinese relations, but that subsequent trade tensions &quot;destroyed the original premise.&quot;

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

Alibaba bails on pledge to create one million U.S. jobs

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