While economists and businessmen are looking to cope with the escalating trade frictions between China and the US, Jack Ma, one of China's richest billionaire, warns of the possibility of a long-term stress.
Tensions between the world's top two economies has been a hot topic, influencing large international companies as well as China's small and medium enterprises(SMEs).
On Wednesday, Alibaba founder Jack Ma warned of the possibility of a long-term situation at the e-commerce giant's computing conference in Hangzhou.
"This trade friction cannot be solved in two months or two years. You should be mentally prepared for the next 20 years. You need to work hard and be the best of yourself, because twenty years is enough for any enterprise to become the next Alibaba or Amazon. Alibaba is only 19 years old," says Ma.
Ma encouraged Chinese SMEs to embrace new technologies during times of difficulty, saying that only those who are exploring new ways have a chance to become the winners of the future.
But he also said the frictions are not caused by the two countries because international trade is fundamentally driven by consumption.
"Trade is not just shipping container, it's the packages you get. The driver of trade is not a factory or a company, but thousands of consumers. When manufacturing has no national boundaries and trade is participated by everyone, the rules of international trade will to be reshaped, and the traditional trade frictions will no longer exist."
Ma's speech is on the heels of China's newly announced 60 Billion US dollars of tariffs on the US goods, from aircraft to liquified natural gas.
Laura Day, senior director of global accounts at Opus Agency, is with one of the exhibitors from the US participating in the Alibaba Computing Conference. She agrees with Jack Ma's idea to integrate more technology into today's manufacturing.
"Chinese manufacturing needs to be thinking long term and the tariff war is not going to necessarily end tomorrow. It will be on going, up and down. But they need to be forward thinking about it and incorporating technology in manufacturing. And I would agree. I would like to think that we would resolve this trade battle sooner than what Jack ma thinks. I would like to think it's not twenty years," says Ma.
The 4-day Alibaba Computing Conference is being held in Hangzhou's Yunqi Town every year since 2015 in Hangzhou, home to its headquarters.
