JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon on Wednesday downplayed concerns about new tariffs from the Trump administration.
“People argue is it inflationary and not inflationary. I would put it in perspective, if it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it,” Dimon said while speaking with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Tariffs “are an economic tool. That’s it. They’re an economic weapon, depending how you use it, and why [you] use it,” he added.
Not that Dimon has completely dropped his long-running worries about other inflationary forces that could affect the US economy.
“I do have a little more caution around a bunch of subjects,” Dimon said Wednesday. “What I’m a little cautious about is the deficit spending; it’s a global issue, not just an American issue,” he said. “And the related [question], ‘Will inflation go away?’ I’m not so sure.”
Dimon attracted a lot of attention at Davos last year when he said Trump was “kind of right” on some issues. Leading up to the US election, Dimon, who has been an outspoken voice on a range of issues, did not give a full-throated endorsement of either Vice President Kamala Harris or Trump, but he did offer them advice via informal and formal advisers to both candidates.
After the election he said that people in his industry were “dancing in the street” as they anticipated more favorable treatment from a Republican administration.
Dimon said Wednesday he hopes “pro-growth strategies” could help balance out some concerns he has about certain elements of the economy.
“Asset prices are kind of inflated” in the stock market, he said. “You need fairly good outcomes to justify those prices, and we’re all hoping for that. I think having pro-growth strategies helps make that happen, but there are negatives out there and they can tend to surprise you.”
Dimon also discussed billionaire Elon Musk and the role he is playing in the new administration, as he leads a cost-cutting effort known as the Department of Government Efficiency. Dimon said he and Musk have “settled some of our differences” and he wishes Musk the best in the new effort.
The two men had feuded for a number of years beginning in 2016 after JPMorgan refused to underwrite leases for Musk’s electric-vehicle maker, Tesla (TSLA).
“I think it is completely rational for someone to look at our government and say it’s been ineffective,” Dimon said. “Government needs to be more accountable, it needs to be more efficient, it should be outcomes-based.”
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