Alibaba Trying Its Best To Stay Away From US Blacklist

Alibaba is trying everything to escape the USTR blacklist yet again.

Alibaba Group Holding has been in several controversial cases recently. In the past months, the company has been accused of allegedly counterfeiting goods on its online marketplaces. Regardless of being the biggest online marketplace platforms that almost offer its e-commerce services to all parts of the world has a very good reputation domestically and internationally. Not only it has been expanding in other countries but it is also increasing the size of its business. The company is valued at a massive $246 billion in a short span of time. Hence, this accusation does not do justice with the company’s name.

However, this is not the right first time that Alibaba Group is listed in such a way. The US trade group, American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), have been urging the government to name it in the notorious market list for a very long time. Nonetheless, the company has talked its way out one way or the other. BABA vows to not have included any counterfeited goods in its online marketplaces such as Tmall and Taobao etc.

According to the sources, the company is now trying very hard to make a lobby in order to stay away from the US Trade’s blacklist. Alibaba is named several times this year in the blacklist for counterfeiting goods on its platforms.

As Reuters report, “Re-inclusion on the USTR's annual list of the world's most "notorious markets" for sales of pirated and counterfeit goods, while not carrying direct penalties, would be a blow to the company's efforts to shed perceptions that its sites are riddled with fakes and that its anti-piracy policies are inadequate. It could also hurt Alibaba's beleaguered share price.”

The company’s two biggest platforms Alibaba.com which is a business to business platform and Taobao Marketplace which is a very huge and popular marketplace were previously present on the notorious ‘ market’ list of the US Trade Representatives since 2008. Alibaba.com managed to get rid of it in 2011 whereas Taobao was removed in 2012. AAFA were not content with this decision. But both companies worked hard and did notable efforts to escape the blacklist.

Eric Pelletier who is the new government affairs chief of Alibaba stated that the company has gone way beyond to clear its record. He wrote, “When you step back and look at our overall efforts to combat illicit activities, our track record is quite clear. We are certainly not perfect, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us...we will continue to do everything we can to stop these activities.”