Recession remains a possibility as tariff fallout continues to buffet global economies, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.
“Hopefully we’ll avoid it, but I wouldn’t take it off the table at this point,” Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday at JPMorgan’s annual Global Markets Conference in Paris. “If there is a recession, I don’t know how big it would be or how long it would last.”
The Trump administration’s tariff policies have been jolting markets for more than a month, and Dimon said some clients are holding back on investments because of all the volatility. Earlier this week, the U.S. and China agreed to temporarily lower levies on each other’s products while the world’s two largest economies work toward a longer-term deal.
Dimon said he hopes the recent thaw in tensions between the U.S. and China will last. “I think it’s the right thing to do — is to back off of some of that stuff,” he said. “To have an engaging conversation.”
Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement of tariffs on dozens of countries sent markets swooning, and days later he announced a 90-day pause to hammer out agreements. Dimon has repeatedly called for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to lead the talks, and in his annual shareholder letter last month urged a quick resolution to the uncertainties.
Dimon said in the interview that volatility has continued recently, and JPMorgan’s trading volume has remained elevated as a result. “You’ve seen examples where there’s good volatility and there’s bad volatility,” he said. “This one happened to be good. The next go around it may not be so good.”
The 69-year-old CEO said some of the fallout from the tariff upheaval could be a decline in investments moving to the US.
“There’ll be a little of that,” he said. “We irritate a lot of people. I run into them, they say you know, they’re not buying our Kentucky bourbon.”
That doesn’t mean the impact will be widely felt, according to Dimon. “Is America a bad investment destination? No. If you were to take all your money and put it in one country it would still be America.”
JPMorgan’s stock traders notched record revenue in the first quarter tied to chaotic market moves, and that was before the April 2 tariffs and subsequent pause. Analysts are expecting the biggest U.S. bank’s total trading revenue to climb again in the second quarter from a year earlier.
In the wide-ranging interview, Dimon also said he was encouraged by the prospect of negotiations between the EU and UK. “They have a chance to actually develop a great relationship, partially making up for the disaster that Brexit became,” he said.
