Dimon: Recession ‘likely outcome’ after Trump tariffs

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he thinks a recession is the “likely outcome” of President Trump’s tariffs.

“Do you personally expect a recession?” Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo asked Dimon on Wednesday on her show “Mornings with Maria,” the same day Trump’s tariffs went into place on dozens of countries.

“I am going to defer to my economists at this point, but I think probably, that’s the likely outcome,” Dimon replied.

“I always remind people, markets aren’t always right, but sometimes they are right,” he later added. “I think this time they are right because they’re just pricing uncertainty at the macro level and uncertainty at the micro level.”

Dimon’s remarks came hours after Trump’s latest round of tariffs went into effect.

The president announced April 2, the day he named “Liberation Day,” that tariffs would be hitting nearly all of the country’s trading partners with an import tax.

The baseline 10 percent tariff was imposed over the weekend and countries have varying percentages of tariffs. The small African country of Lesotho was hit with a 50 percent tariff, and Trump increased China’s to more than 100 percent after the country retaliated with its own tariffs.

Markets have fluctuated since Trump’s announcement about the tariffs. The president largely shrugged off the losses, and the markets briefly rallied Tuesday morning as there was a sense that Trump would pause the tariffs.

Worldwide markets have swung sharply as the tariffs went into place, but the U.S. stock market held relatively steady early Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Dimon voiced support for Trump’s tariff plan for Canada, Mexico and China. He argued it would be good for U.S. national security.

However, he later changed his tune, arguing the tariffs were causing uncertainty for U.S. businesses.

As of Wednesday, Dimon argued that he’s already seen business sentiment change with the implementation of tariffs.

He said hopefully there wouldn’t be a tariff-related recession, and if there is one, he hopes “it’ll be short.”

“I do think fixing these tariff issues and traders should be a good thing to do,” he said. “That will get one major uncertainty behind us.”

“We have the strongest economy in the world. It would be good not to add to the uncertainty out there,” Dimon added.

Updated at 11:22 a.m. EDT