Alibaba Criticized Again by U.S. for Selling Fakes Online
- Chinese firm’s president calls process biased and politicized
- U.S. decision is a blow to Alibaba’s overseas growth strategy
Alibaba’s Taobao website.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
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Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was cited again as a marketplace for fakes on a U.S. blacklist, another sign of increasing tension between the U.S. and China.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Friday included Alibaba’s Taobao online marketplace on its list of “Notorious Markets,” citing a high volume of reported counterfeiting and piracy. The agency acknowledged steps Alibaba has taken to make it easier for fakes to be removed, but said “the enforcement program reportedly continues to be burdensome and insufficient to end the sale of counterfeit products on the platform.”