Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, in an interview this week defended President Donald Trump’s widespread tariffs as “part of a master plan” to negotiate trade deals.
Dimon said on Thursday evening that he initially thought the tariffs were “too large, too big, and too aggressive when it started,” but later decided “it was part of a master plan to get people to the table.”
He added that voters should note “it’s OK to say if it’s unfair [and] we want to fix it.”
Dimon went on to praise Trump’s trade deal with the United Kingdom, saying he’s “very happy it took place.”
He added, “The tariff stuff…was very big and very large and everybody all at once. I think it’s very important that they start to show progress in the deal, so any progress is good.”
Dimon said, “These are deals in principle…a real trade deal would be 10 or 20,000 pages long. But any progress is good.”
When asked if he had any advice for Trump, Dimon said, “Keep doing what you’re doing now,” but added that Trump should lighten up his crackdown on immigration by providing legal pathways towards citizenship for “some of the undocumented but law-abiding immigrants” similar to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy started in the Obama administration.
“When you look at it, the border has been successful,” Dimon said, adding that “after you eliminate the criminal element, I would try to work on real immigration reform. We need seasonal workers, we need a path to citizenship for some of the undocumented but law-abiding immigrants, we need DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals].”