Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has his finger on the pulse of America’s financial state — which he claims could have more doom and gloom today than optimism.
“I hear it from just everybody now, ‘I’m going to cut back a little bit, I’m gonna wait, see what happens.’ That is kind of recessionary talk,” Dimon said Wednesday in an exclusive interview on “Mornings with Maria.”
When asked if he’s personally expecting a recession, Dimon responded: “I am going to defer to my economists at this point, but I think probably that’s a likely outcome.”
The top banker didn’t shy away from discussing President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the state of the economy following $6 trillion in value being wiped from the stock market in under a week.
SCOTT BESSENT BLASTS CHINA’S RETALIATORY TARIFF PLAY AS LOSING MOVE
Overnight, China fired back with an 84% retaliatory tariff after Trump put forth a 104% levy on Chinese imports. The White House continues to reiterate it is open to negotiations with China as well as any other country.
“I’m taking a calm view, but I think it could get worse if we don’t make some progress here,” Dimon said.
“It is perfectly reasonable for someone to say that trade was unfair. There were unfair trade things,” he noted. “I think they have the [value-added tax] wrong, how they understand it. And I think they should really get a better understanding, to make it easier to negotiate.”
The tariffs were “beyond what people expected,” the CEO argued while expressing his confidence in Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“That will cause a little inflation, slow down growth, but I hope what they really do is let Scott Bessent, who I think is a professional, negotiate. I know Japan’s here, I gather Korea, Vietnam have called, and then eventually Europe… Get those things done quickly,” Dimon urged.
“If you want to calm down the markets, show progress in those things, then let Scott take the time,” he added. “Trade deals are very large and very complex. They can’t be done overnight, but you really have to have teams working on them to get them right.”
He further cautioned against “trade wars,” claiming countries and companies are now faced with long-term and short-term choices to make.
“I think today I saw Delta remove their guidance, and things like that will affect stock prices again. So, it’s not over yet,” Dimon said. “And then you’ve seen tremendous moves in swap prices, asset prices, Treasury prices.”
“Let them settle down, take a deep breath, negotiate some trade deals. That’s the best thing they can do.,” he said.
In his annual letter to shareholders earlier this week, Dimon put emphasis on national security in reaction to Trump’s “menu of tariffs,” but admitted it takes time to streamline supply chains within the U.S. only. He expanded with host Maria Bartiromo on how fast it could be done.
“We need to do that for rare earths, pharmaceutical devices, semiconductor chips. We should do it right. I mean, we shouldn’t do it in a way that wastes a lot of money and lets corporations feed it, that great tax trough, or something like that. And it could be done, but it will take years,” he said.
“Economic security, national security are almost directly related in the long run… I think it would be in Russia’s and North Korea’s, Iran’s and China’s interests to fragment the Western world. And I think that would be the biggest long-term mistake,” he continued. “I don’t want to read the book about how the West was lost.”
“But I do think fixing these tariff issues and trade issues should be a good thing to do. That will get one major uncertainty behind us. We have the strongest economy in the world. It would be good not to add to the uncertainty out there,” he said.
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