JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended tariffs during a January 22 appearance on CNBC, arguing that they can be used as either “an economic weapon” or “an economic tool.” Dimon asked that the tariffs President Donald Trump was pushing could be “a little inflationary,” telling critics of tariffs to “get over it.”
But now that Trump’s steep new tariffs are causing the stock market to plummet and causing a wide range of imported goods to soar in price, Dimon is admitting that there could be some rough days ahead.
In a letter to shareholders sent early Monday morning, April 7, CNBC reports, the JPMorgan Chase CEO warned, “The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars,’ ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility.”
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Dimon acknowledged that a recession is possible.
“Whatever you think of the legitimate reasons for the newly announced tariffs — and, of course, there are some — or the long-term effect, good or bad, there are likely to be important short-term effects,” the Wall Street CEO told investors. “We are likely to see inflationary outcomes, not only on imported goods, but on domestic prices, as input costs rise and demand increases on domestic products.”
Dimon continued, “Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth.”
CNBC’s Hugh Son notes that Dimon’s statements now “appear to backtrack earlier comments he made in January, when Dimon said that people should ‘get over’ tariff concerns because they were good for national security.”
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In the April 7 letter, Dimon told investors, “Markets still seem to be pricing assets with the assumption that we will continue to have a fairly soft landing. I am not so sure.”
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