In an increasingly fraught political environment, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is steering clear of any “binary” outlooks.
Macroeconomic and foreign policy out of the White House under Trump 2.0 has divided opinion: Critics have blasted his tariff plans as “bullying,” while advocates believe the Oval Office is merely righting unfair trade practices.
The Wall Street titan is keen to find a middle ground, particularly if the outcome of some policies remains unclear. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, Dimon repeatedly said he wanted to avoid drawing “binary” conclusions about the economy and the impact of foreign policy.
Even on White House policies he said he feels would be a “disaster,” he said he was still open to the idea of an experiment. For example, President Donald Trump is pressuring U.S. lawmakers to pass legislation to limit credit card rates to 10%, having appealed to banks on social media to voluntarily sign up to the agreement.
“It would be an economic disaster,” Dimon told the Davos audience, suggesting it would remove credit lines to 80% of Americans. A study released Monday by the American Bankers Association found 74% to 85% of open credit card accounts nationwide would be closed or have their credit lines drastically reduced if the cap was brought in—up to 159 million cardholders.
Even then, “I have a great idea,” Dimon said. “Since there’s a huge disagreement on this one … I think we should test it.”
The CEO of America’s biggest bank said he was confident JPMorgan would survive such an event, adding: “The people crying the most won’t be the credit card companies. It’ll be the restaurants, the retailers, the travel companies, the schools, the municipalities—because people [will] miss their water payments, this payment, that payment”
“They should test it,” he added.
The foreign policy question
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