The United States on Wednesday returned Taobao, China's most popular consumer-to-consumer shopping website, to its blacklist of "notorious marketplaces" known for the sale of counterfeit goods and violations of intellectual property rights.
The move by the U.S. trade representative's office against the online bazaar run by Alibaba Group Co. Holding Ltd. followed complaints from U.S. and international trade groups for apparel and luxury goods that Taobao was not doing enough to police sales of fakes and pirated products.
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans said in a statement the company was "very disappointed" to be put back on the list; the company, he said, is far more advanced in protecting intellectual property rights than it was four years ago. He added that the decision ignored Alibaba's work to remove more than twice the number of product listings this year than it did in 2015.
"We question whether the USTR acted based on the actual facts or was influenced by the current political climate," Evans said.
Alibaba shares fell 0.7 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to $89.25.