Jamie Dimon Urges Immediate US Engagement With China Over Tariffs

J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the President Donald Trump administration should quickly initiate negotiations with China and United States allies to end the uncertainty around tariffs.

The uncertainty is making people unsure they can “rely on America,” Dimon said, in an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday (April 15).

Of the U.S.-China trade war, Dimon said, per the report: “I don’t think there’s any engagement right now … it doesn’t have to wait a year. It could start tomorrow.”

Of U.S. allies, he said: “I would want to negotiate eventually with Europe, with the U.K., with Japan, Korea, Australia, Philippines, and have a very strong economic relationship.”

The announced tariffs — which were “dramatically different” from what people had expected — together with the subsequent changes in trade policies and attacks on independent regulators, have led some investors to question America’s position as the world’s leading market, Dimon said in the report.

“We should be careful,” Dimon said, per the report. “I don’t think anyone should assume they have a divine right to success and therefore don’t worry about it.”

During a Tuesday press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a statement from Trump in which he said, “The ball is in China’s court.”

“China needs to make a deal with us; we don’t have to make a deal with them,” Leavitt said, sharing the statement in a video posted on social platform X by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account. “There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have, the American consumer. Or, to put it another way, they need our money.”

.@PressSec shares a statement from @POTUS: “The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us; we don’t have to make a deal with them. There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger, and China wants what we have… the… pic.twitter.com/qD9LHzdAJm

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 15, 2025

Leavitt added: “The president again has made it quite clear that he’s open to a deal with China, but China needs to make a deal with the United States of America.”

It was reported Tuesday that Chinese exporters are struggling in the face of steep new U.S. tariffs. China ships more than $400 billion in goods to the U.S. per year, more than any other country, and its exporters are seeing their U.S. orders either disappear or get placed on hold.

In the U.S., consumers are taking a harder look at their spending and budgeting amid the prospect of tariffs potentially pushing price tags higher, according to PYMNTS Intelligence’s forthcoming installment in its “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report” series.