JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned the US economy is facing “considerable turbulence” from President Donald Trump’s threats to start a global trade war.
“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,” Dimon said.
“As always, we hope for the best but prepare the firm for a wide range of scenarios.”
His remarks come after Trump paused his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on all countries apart from China. The White House said it would hike levies to 145% on Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to hit back with a 125% tariff on American products.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon raised his concerns about the use of tariffs in an interview with Fox Business earlier this week. AP
Dimon — who earlier this week had warned about the risk of a possible recession when he sat down with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business — made his latest comments in a filing as America’s biggest bank reported a 9% increase in profits for the start of 2025, registering $14.6 billion in net income for the first quarter of 2025.
That is up from $13.4 billion for the same period a year and beat analyst expectations of $13.6 billion. Earnings per share were $5.07, beating a forecast from the London Stock Exchange Group of $4.63.
But in a sign that Americans might not be able to keep up with repayments on their homes or bank cards, the lender said it has increased its provisions for credit losses to $3.3 billion from $1.9 billion last year.
Consumers and businesses could struggle to repay their loans if the new import levies reignite inflation and dampen economic growth.
Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said, however, that consumers were “front-loading spending…ahead of people expecting price increases from tariffs.”
JPMorgan warned that Trump’s threat to start a trade war could weigh heavily on the economy and set aside more cash reserves to deal with any possible bad loans. AP
Dimon, who has been in the bank’s top job for nearly two decades, also fired a warning shot over how the uneconomic uncertainty could weigh heavily on M&A activity in the future.
The veteran banker said investment banking “clients have become more cautious amid an increase in market volatility driven by geopolitical and trade-related tensions,” but his bank’s Wall Street operations still performed well in the first quarter of this year.
JPMorgan’s investment banking fees were up 12% to $2.2 billion, according to the bank’s Q1 earnings release.
But the bank’s trading division was able to reap the gains from investors adjusting their portfolios amid the economic turbulence. Trading revenue climbed 21% to $9.7 billion, while equities trading surged 48% to a record $3.8 billion.
The price of a share in JPMorgan closed at $227.11 on Thursday evening. The bank’s stock has dropped by more than 5% since the turn of the year.
