(Bloomberg) --
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats will “get people to the table,” adding that he hopes it’s “done wisely.”
Trump is “not against trade — he thinks a lot of these things have been unfair against America, and there are examples where that’s true,” Dimon said Thursday at the APEC CEO Summit Peru 2024 in Lima. “If there’s something unfair, it should be fixed. If we start making ourselves stronger at the expense of everyone else, there will be retaliation.”
Dimon is among business leaders and heads of state who flocked to the Peruvian capital this week for a series of gatherings sandwiched between the US presidential election and the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week. Donald Trump’s win looms large over the event as attendees weigh the potential impacts to the global economy.
Thursday marks Dimon’s first public appearance since the election last week. He has declined to endorse either candidate during the campaigns and has said that, as CEO of the biggest US bank, he’ll work with whoever takes office. In a note to employees last week, Dimon and his top leadership team congratulated Trump on his win, saying the firm “looks forward to engaging the new administration.”
Minutes before his panel, Trump said on Truth Social that Dimon will not be invited to be a part of the Trump administration. When asked about the post, Dimon responded: “I haven’t had a boss in 25 years and I’m not about ready to start.”
Shares of the biggest US banks soared in the wake of Trump’s victory, with JPMorgan jumping nearly 12% to a record on the day after the election. That euphoria has cooled a bit in the days since as investors weigh Trump’s cabinet appointments and potential policy road maps once he takes office in January.
“A lot of bankers, they’re like dancing in the street,” Dimon said, regardless of who they voted for after years of a tougher regulatory environment. “Animal spirits will be unleashed” as companies look harder at acquisitions and capital deployment, he said — “and they should.”
Last month, Dimon warned that, despite slowing inflation, “critical issues remain” for the US economy, including fiscal deficits, infrastructure needs and re-militarization. He’s also repeatedly said in recent years that his concern over geopolitical tensions dwarfs the issue of whether the US has a soft or hard landing — a message he echoed again Thursday.
“The issue of the world is the future of freedom and democracy, which is around geopolitical, military, economic geopolitics,” Dimon said. “It’s more important we get that right than whether we have a soft landing.”
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.