當(dāng)馬云的美國夢遇到“中國優(yōu)先”

Jack Ma’s American dream has woken up to a bitter reality. Alibaba’s retiring founder rescinded a promise to create 1 million jobs in the United States. He blamed tariff tensions between the United States and China, but his $420 billion company has not given foreigners a level playing field on his international e-commerce site. Like any exporter, Mr. Ma’s public championing of free trade blends enlightenment with self-interest.

馬云的美國夢遭遇苦澀的現(xiàn)實。這位阿里巴巴即將退休的創(chuàng)始人收回了在美國創(chuàng)造100萬個工作崗位的承諾。他將原因歸咎為美中之間緊張的貿(mào)易關(guān)系，但他價值4200億美元的公司從未在其國際電商網(wǎng)站上給予過外國人一個公平的競爭環(huán)境。與任何出口商一樣，馬云對自由貿(mào)易的公開支持，將啟蒙與私利混雜在一起。

Alibaba.com was originally built to connect small Chinese wholesale manufacturers to overseas buyers. As domestic consumption boomed, however, the export operation was eclipsed by Taobao, Alibaba’s eBay-like marketplace, and the complementary Tmall, which hosts stores for bigger retailers. When Mr. Ma met Donald Trump in January 2017 before his inauguration, the Alibaba chairman vowed that 1 million small American businesses would gain access over five years and lead to a similar number of jobs, helping rebalance trade in the process.

阿里巴巴網(wǎng)站原本意在將中國的小型批發(fā)制造商與海外買家聯(lián)系起來。然而，隨著國內(nèi)消費增長，出口業(yè)務(wù)被淘寶和作為補充的天貓所超越。淘寶是阿里巴巴與eBay類似的市場，天貓則是較大零售商開設(shè)商店的平臺。當(dāng)馬云于2017年1月在特朗普宣誓就職前與之見面時，阿里巴巴的這位董事長誓言在未來5年里，有100萬美國小企業(yè)業(yè)主能進入這個平臺，并且?guī)眍愃茢?shù)量的就業(yè)機會，在這個過程中還能幫助平衡貿(mào)易。

Most of those smaller merchants would have set up shop on Tmall Global. Theoretically, this subsite provides an easier channel to sell directly to Chinese customers, without the hassle and expense of creating an onshore entity, as required by Tmall. It attracted Costco, Gerber and most recently U.S. grocery chain Kroger, which began peddling a modest line of vitamins and nuts in August.

這些小企業(yè)主中的大多數(shù)都可以在天貓國際上開設(shè)店鋪。理論上來說，天貓國際這個子網(wǎng)站能為他們提供一個直接向中國顧客銷售商品更為便利的渠道，而不需要像天貓要求的那樣費錢費力地在國內(nèi)開設(shè)實體。這樣的服務(wù)吸引了好市多(Costco)、嘉寶(Gerber)，最為近期的還有美國連鎖雜貨店克羅格(Kroger)，后者八月開始售賣維他命和堅果。

The portal hosts around 18,000 vendors, so 1 million more would have been impressive. Since shopkeepers pay for the privilege of a storefront, Alibaba’s fees were more likely to rise than sales or jobs.

這個門戶有著1.8萬銷售商，因此，再增加100萬會很引人矚目。由于賣家為了獲得店鋪需要付錢，阿里巴巴的費用比銷售額或工作機會增加的可能性大。

The company does not break out specific sales figures for Tmall Global, describing it as a “testing ground.” While Tmall.com is the fourth most-visited website in China, Tmall.hk, the domain for Tmall Global, ranks 357th, according to Alexa data. In essence, it’s a smaller shopping center located far from where the Chinese action is. Why isn’t exactly clear, but domestic vendors on Taobao might not be so receptive to foreign competition.

阿里巴巴沒有公布天貓國際的具體銷售數(shù)字，而且將其稱為“試驗場”。根據(jù)Alexa的數(shù)據(jù)，盡管Tmall.com是中國訪問量第四大的網(wǎng)站，天貓國際的域名Tmall.hk訪問排名僅為第357位。本質(zhì)上來說，它是一個規(guī)模不大、冷清的購物中心。為何如此?原因不清楚，但淘寶上的國內(nèi)銷售商或許不會欣然接納來自外國的競爭。

Even the mainstream Tmall has lost some foreign interest of late. Some Western companies have complained about the cost, others of the grey marketeers reselling their brands — or counterfeits — next door at Taobao.

即使是主流的天貓，外國公司近來也失去了興趣。一些西方公司抱怨過成本問題，其他公司也投訴過灰市賣家就在旁邊的淘寶上轉(zhuǎn)售他們品牌的商品，或是假冒品。

Alibaba has gotten better at helping Chinese merchants sell overseas. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it’s hardly a solution to imbalanced trade.

阿里巴巴在幫助中國賣家向海外銷售商品方面做得更好。這無可厚非，但它絕非平衡貿(mào)易的解決方案。