Retail sales has nothing to do with China selling on Amazon. It is a domestic number. It means stuff the Chinese are buying in China. The Amazon thingy would be the export/import balance.
Because every other country is complying with the rules. With Chinese companies on US exchanges, you don't own any shares, you just have some rights via some Caribbean entity. No other country is doing this. It's great that rules are being enforced but not so great that there are now fewer listings.
When I found that out last year and knowing how quickly China's government decides and implements rules, I sold all of my BABA and swore off Chinese stocks on US markets. Good thing because BABA sunk a few months later.
Except the USA didn't discriminate against China. SEC applies the same accounting standards and reporting requirements to all companies from all around the world who wish to list with US exchanges. Other countries all have no problem complying or if they don't feel like complying, they just withdraw. Only China would play the race card and cry discrimination.
I don't know what's the big deal with BABA really. I ordered from Aliexpress once, the North American version of Alibaba. It's AWEFUL!! The stuff that they sell you is crap. They bait and switch on the prices. Half of the cheap prices that you see there are fake. They show you one price but just when you are about to submit your order, it shows you another price or tells you the product is not available. And then they don't update the shipping status to show that the stuff is delivered so you don't know to pick it up on purpose so you miss the return window which is only 15 days from receipt of the order. I ordered once and never ordered again! I mean I like Jack Ma's ideas and innovations but if what I see on AliExpress is what Alibaba is, its e-commerce site is not managed well.