Alibaba shares tumble as Trump order stirs China trade angst

Jack Ma sits, looking defeated
Founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma present at the 'Ma Yun Rural Teachers and Headmasters Prize' awards show on January 6th, 2020 in Sanya , Hainan province, China.
Wang HE—Getty Images

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd shares tumbled in US trading on Monday as President Donald Trump’s latest executive order stirred fears about deepening trade tensions between the US and China. 

Alibaba’s American depositary receipts fell as much as 11%, on track for the biggest loss since 2022. The Nasdaq Golden China Index fell as much as 6.3% with Bilibili Inc. and Kingsoft Cloud Holdings also among stocks falling more than 10%.

The selloff marks a sharp reversal after a run up in Alibaba and other China technology stocks in recent weeks amid optimism about artificial intelligence in the wake of DeepSeek. Alibaba had gained about 70% this year through Friday’s close, while the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose 18%.

Over the weekend, Trump directed the committee on Foreign Investment in the US to limit Chinese spending on technology and other strategic US sectors. Meanwhile, Alibaba pledged to invest more than 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) on AI infrastructure over the next three years. The plan would make Alibaba one of China’s biggest AI infrastructure spenders.

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