Alibaba ardently woos US small businesses

When Alibaba's Jack Ma met US President Donald Trump in January, he said he would create a million jobs in the United States, and he set out to make his first attempt at fulfilling that pledge in Detroit this week.

Alibaba's Gateway '17 conference, which began on Tuesday and continues on Wednesday, is pitched as a way to get small and medium-sized US businesses to sign onto Alibaba's various e-commerce platforms, such as Taobao and Tmall.

Ma was scheduled to give a keynote address on Wednesday to an expected audience of thousands on how to succeed in China through Alibaba.