Alibaba Retail Chatter Spikes After Carnage From Trump Tariff Escalation: Retail Expecting More Pain

Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) was among the most discussed stocks on Stocktwits early Wednesday, with retail investors looking for clues after the steep decline in its price amid an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China.

Until last month, Alibaba rallied hard on improving prospects of its artificial intelligence innovation and broad gains in Chinese tech stocks.

But, breaks were cast last week when President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on all countries, including exceptionally high levies on China.

In tit-for-tat moves until Tuesday, China announced 34% tariffs on U.S. imports to the country, and the U.S. bumped the additional tariff rate to 84% on Chinese goods.

Chinese imports now have a whopping 104% effective tariff rate.

Alibaba shares fell 12% over the last week and 14.7% so far this week. They are down 33% from their 2025 peak in mid-March.

The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB), which tracks Chinese tech companies, fell 3.7% on Tuesday and is down 26% from its 2025 peak in mid-March.

Alibaba was the fifth most trending ticker on Stocktwits as of writing.

On the platform, retail sentiment was 'bearish', although it improved slightly from the previous day, and message volume jumped to 'extremely high'.

Users questioned why some investors were bullish on the stock, and expected "carnage" in the coming days.

Several users noted their expectation of a crash in BABA shares on Wednesday.

So far this year, BABA stock is up 18.1% year to date.

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