Alibaba.com Dumps Chinese Manufacturer After U.S. Political Pressure

Chinese Internet sourcing behemoth Alibaba.com has bowed to complaints from a United States senator that the website was helping to promote counterfeit goods.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced that Alibaba.com has taken down 421 advertisements for counterfeit D’Addario guitar string products being manufactured in China.

Last week, Schumer reportedly visited D’Addario’s facilities in new York to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to launch a coordinated crackdown on the makers and distributors of counterfeit D’Addario products and the commercial websites, like Alibaba.com, which were selling or facilitating the sale of the counterfeit music strings. Following that pressure, Alibaba.com reportedly confirmed two days later it had removed all advertisements on the site that were selling the counterfeit strings.

“I commend Alibaba.com for taking swift and immediate action to halt the sale of these counterfeit strings,” said Schumer. “It is important that retailers do everything in their power to block the sale of counterfeit goods that wind up costing American jobs. Alibaba did the right thing and has pulled down all advertising for knock-off D’Addario strings.”

According to a press release from Schumer’s office, D’Addario makes all of its music strings in the United States, but recent investigations have uncovered an extensive counterfeiting operation, based in China, that has been illegally producing and selling sub-grade counterfeit strings, under the D’Addario label, to consumers around the globe.

Schumer stated, “I am continuing my call for the US Trade Representative to pressure the Chinese government to shut the counterfeit manufacturing sites down.”