Alibaba 'ready' for trade war with US

Beijing: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba on Thursday said that the company is ready for a possible trade war with the United States, adding that it would not only survive the fight but will also thrive. This comes after the company reported its total earnings for the year.

"If US goods become too expensive due to tariffs, Chinese consumers can shift to domestic producers or imports from other parts of the world," CNN Money quoted Alibaba (BABA) Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai, as saying to analysts during an earnings conference call.

However, Tsai clarified that Alibaba does not want a trade war, as this would further deteriorate trade talks. He also said that the e-commerce giant would not face any difficulty in finding other markets for its products if the US becomes a tougher place for business.

"In terms of our international expansion, the world is a big place. We have made substantial progress in emerging markets like Southeast Asia and South Asia as these markets are ripe for us to add more consumers into our ecosystem," he said.

Tsai further said that China's dependence on exports has reduced over the years and its economy can withstand tariffs on Chinese products. However, Founder and executive chairman Jack Ma has repeatedly said that Alibaba is interested in doing business with big US brands.

The company reported a total sales of 80.92 billion RMB (USD 12.2 billion) for its Q1 2019 and record a net profit of 8.7 billion RMB (USD 1.3 billion) for the period, which was down 41 per cent on account of costs around recent fundraising for Ant Financial, reported TechCrunch.