JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Friday warned of “considerable turbulence” to the U.S. economy after tariff announcements this week as well as longstanding inflation and high deficits.
“As always, we hope for the best but prepare the Firm for a wide range of scenarios,” he said, adding that “clients have become more cautious amid an increase in market volatility driven by geopolitical and trade-related tensions.”
The JPMorgan chief executive made the comments as his bank—the largest in the United States—reported a 9 percent increase in profits for the first quarter of 2025. It reported $14.6 billion in net income for that quarter, up from $13.4 billion from the same time period a year ago.
The Trump administration last week unveiled steep reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries, only to pause a number of them on Wednesday while allowing 10 percent baseline tariffs on nearly every country to remain in effect. Since the tariffs were first announced, JPMorgan’s shares dropped by around 8 percent and hit a seven-month low earlier this week.
Tariffs of 145 percent on Chinese imports into the United States went into effect on Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced. In response, the Chinese regime said on Friday that it would increase its own tariffs on U.S. products to 125 percent.
Trump had told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he thought the United States could make a deal with China and suggested he wants talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The Trump administration also has shrugged off the turmoil, saying striking deals with other countries would bring more certainty to markets.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he was not surprised by China’s latest countermeasures but that they were “certainly unfortunate.”
The announcement of the pause on tariffs sent global stocks soaring on Wednesday after an intense bout of volatility that wiped trillions of dollars off equity markets. Stocks, however, reversed course on Thursday, posting sharp declines.
Earlier this week, Dimon told Fox Business that he believes a recession is the “likely outcome” of the tariffs but noted that there is “a huge, complex geopolitical situation; huge fiscal deficits not just here, but around the world.”
“Sticky inflation, which I personally think will not go away so quickly,” he said on Wednesday. “And then you have what’s going to happen with tariffs, with trade. Tariffs and trade are just part of that mix. They don’t completely stand alone.”
