Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is back on the U.S. government’s annual list of “notorious markets” that sell pirated goods.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said Wednesday that Alibaba’s on-line marketplace Taobao sells “high levels” of counterfeit goods and is slow to respond when companies complain about the knockoffs.
USTR took Alibaba off the blacklist in 2012, but several U.S. trade groups successfully sought to get it reinstated.
“There are a lot of victims here,” including U.S. companies that lose sales to fakes and consumers who wind up with shoddy goods, said Stephen Lamar, executive vice president at the American Apparel & Footwear Association, which wanted Alibaba back on the list.
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said the company is “disappointed.” Alibaba polices the market more effectively than it did four years ago, he said.
Evans questioned whether the USTR decision was “based on actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate.” During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump blasted China for stealing intellectual property.
In 2014, Alibaba sold $25 billion worth of stock on the New York Stock Exchange in the biggest initial public offering on record. Winding up on the notorious markets listing again is another blow to its reputation. In 2015, Chinese regulators issued an unusual, scathing report that accused Alibaba of failing to do enough to prevent the sale of fakes on its websites.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I own a few shares of this stock Baba & also BIDU. Following them I must say China has been cracking down fast & hard & I mean fast & hard on false or misleading. All sudden as Obama’s days wind down, China has wound up a new policy of there are no acceptable vendor or advertising excuses for misleading consumers. I didn’t know, it wasn’t intentional doesn’t fly over there anymore especially if sold to America. China is sending strong message they are in quick fire clean-up mode & won’t be embarrassed by producing poor quality knockoffs or false advertising anymore…massive effort underway to wipeout past bad stigmas & transition to a new era of consumer protection & building trust in quality of their products…New act in preparation for new game rules in trade as Obama’s “look the other way” administration leaves ???? Sure seems to me Trump’s cry for Fair trade was heard around the world.
All Americans, for the best interests of our nation, should completely boycott ALL online purchase of Chinese goods. Doing so will force them to comply with international fair trade and e-commerce laws.