Jack Ma Meets with Trump, Says He'll Create a Million US Jobs

By Bridget O'Donnell, January 10, 2017

The latest person to enter Trump Tower is... Jack Ma?

After everyone from Kanye West to Sheryl Sandberg made high-profile appearances at the Manhattan skyscraper, the Alibaba founder (and China's second richest man) met with American President-elect Donald Trump on Monday to discuss jobs — specifically, Ma's plans to create one million new positions in the US by opening up trade between small Stateside businesses and Chinese consumers.

"It was a great meeting," Trump told reporters.

Trump also called Ma a "great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world."

"He loves this country and he also loves China," Trump waxed on. "Jack and I are going to do some great things."

Ma, meanwhile, told reporters that it was a "very productive meeting" and that "the door is open to discuss the relationship on trade issues."

While details of the plan to add jobs are still rather vague, a particular industry Ma mentioned that could benefit from the relationship was agriculture. He said that food products like fruits and wines could be sold from US vendors to Chinese consumers on Alibaba's platforms (i.e. Taobao).

Trump made a habit of criticizing the outsourcing of jobs to China on the campaign trail.

The meeting came just one day after it was revealed that Trump was using a state-run hotel in Beijing as a business address. In the weeks since his upset victory in the 2016 Presidential election, Trump has also provoked Beijing on numerous occasions, with tensions seemingly hitting a high over China's seizure of an underwater drone in the South China Sea.

[Image via Business Insider]