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Alibaba Advances U.S. Courtship While Trade Tensions Simmer

U.S. sellers can now target Alibaba.com’s 10 million buyers
Alibaba Group wants to get 50% of revenue from outside China

Alibaba Opens Up Platform to American Businesses(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Lulu Yilun Chen and Olivia Rockeman

July 23, 2019 at 11:30 AM UTC

Updated on

July 23, 2019 at 7:30 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is opening its oldest online platform to U.S. merchants, promising to help American businesses at a time U.S.-Chinese tensions are darkening the outlook for global trade.

The Chinese e-commerce giant on Tuesday opened up Alibaba.com to U.S. sellers for the first time, allowing them to peddle to buyers around the world who seek merchandise to stock shelves or materials to make products. Alibaba says it now wants American producers to hawk their wares as well, eventually helping them tap a vast Chinese market. Fruit and vegetable wholesaler Robinson Fresh and Office Depot Inc. will be among the first U.S. names to join Alibaba.com.