Ma was speaking at the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos
Speaking at the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos, Alibaba founder Jack Ma has addressed America’s growing globalization backlash, slamming the superpower for squandering its wealth.
“American international companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization,” Ma said, “The past 30 years, companies like IBM, Cicsco and Microsoft made tons of money.”
Questioning where the money went, Ma explained that America’s wealth had been wasted. “In the past 30 years, America has had 13 wars at a cost of $14.2 trillion. That’s where the money went.”
Ma criticized America for bankrolling Wall Street in the follow up to the 2008 financial crash, arguing that the money should have been spent in other areas. “What if they had spent part of that money on building up their infrastructure, helping white-collar and blue-collar workers? You’re supposed to spend money on your own people.”
Ma argued that globalization isn’t to solely to blame. Instead, the Chinese entrepreneur said America’s elite is to blame for managing the process. “It’s not that other countries steal American jobs; it is your strategy – that you did not distribute the money in a proper way.”
Nonetheless, Ma has an optimistic outlook for globalization, “I believe globalization is good, but it needs to be improved. It should be inclusive globalization.”
Ma is also optimistic about President-elect Donald Trump, saying he is “open-minded and he’s listening.” The pair met recently in New York. “We spoke about how we can help small American businesses sell their products in China and Asia through our network, which can create a lot of jobs for them.”
Instead of fearing a trade war, Ma completely rejects the idea and believes that both economic powerhouses will benefit from working together. “China and the US will never have a trade war… It would be a disaster for both countries and the world.”