Alibaba's Jack Ma meets Trump, to support 1 million small businesses in US

'I think the president-elect is very smart, he is very open-minded to listen,' said Jack Ma

Jack Ma, founder and chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, on Monday met with US President-elect Donald Trump and discussed plans to help US small businesses sell products to China through the company's platform.

"I think the president-elect is very smart, he is very open-minded to listen. I told him my ideas about how to improve trade, especially to improve small business, cross border trade," Xinhua quoted Ma as saying at Trump tower in New York after meeting with Trump.

"We specifically talked about ... supporting 1 million small businesses, especially in the Midwest of America. Small businesses on the platform selling products -- agriculture products and America services -- to China and Asia," he said.

They also discussed the China-US relationship, which should be "strengthened" and "more friendly", according to Ma.

"(Trump) has concerns, and he has solutions, that he wants to discuss with China and us," he said.

"We had a great meeting, and a great, great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world. Jack and I are going to do some great things," Trump told reporters after the meeting.

Alibaba group said on Monday via its official twitter that the company works with US companies and farmers to sell to over 450 million Chinese consumers on its platform, and it has set a goal of helping one million US small businesses export to China.