JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Friday that the U.S. needs to get its own act together before worrying about China.
“I’m not as worried about China. China is a potential adversary. They’re doing a lot of things well, they have a lot of problems. What I really worry about is us,” Dimon said during the Reagan National Economic Forum in California.
“Can we get our own act together, our own values, our own capability, our own management?” he asked.
His comments come after President Trump’s worldwide tariffs have faced scrutiny from the courts, foreign leaders and bipartisan lawmakers. On Wednesday, a federal court blocked the bulk of Trump’s sweeping tariffs, delivering a blow to the administration. But Trump was delivered a small win Thursday, when an appeals court lifted a block on some of his sweeping tariff agenda.
Tech billionaire and outgoing senior Trump adviser Elon Musk even agreed with Dimon’s perspective.
“Jamie Dimon is right,” Musk wrote in a Friday post on the social platform X.
The country has the ability to remain “enormously resilient” but must tighten up loose ends to pull through, Dimon said.
“I think this time is different. This time we’re, you know, we have to get our act together. We have to do it very quickly,” he told audience members at the event in Simi Valley.
Since the onset of tariffs this spring, countries across the globe have projected billions of dollars in losses.
The Trump administration is still working to hammer out trade agreements with international partners, including China. The president remains locked in negotiations with his counterparts in Beijing.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a call in the future to stabilize the trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies, NewsNation reported.
At the event, Dimon also argued economic growth cannot be the government’s only concern. He noted that developments in defense and other areas will help sustain U.S. global leadership.
“Are we gonna be the reserve currency? No. You know, if we are not the preeminent military and the preeminent economy in 40 years, we will not be the reserve currency,” Dimon said.
“That’s a fact, he added. “Just read history.”
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