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China has recently become “more consistent” in its relations with other countries, JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has said, in the latest sign that US business leaders are reassessing their views about the world’s second-largest economy.
In response to a question about whether China had emerged as a safe haven amid the upheaval in other parts of the world, Dimon said: “They are more consistent with other countries — that’s been true a little bit recently.”
Dimon made the comments to Bloomberg TV on the sidelines of the Wall Street bank’s financial conference in Shanghai on Thursday. They come as world leaders including those from traditional US allies such as the UK and Canada visit Beijing to sign trade and co-operation agreements.
In the interview Dimon also attempted to defend the US despite the domestic and international turmoil sparked by the Trump administration: “America is still a safe haven — we just surprised people recently.”
He also said that bond yields “could be much higher than they are today”, referring to higher US deficits and soaring AI spending. “We may have gone from a saving glut to not enough savings.”
The JPMorgan chief last year launched a $1.5tn “security and resilience initiative” that aims to back sectors deemed essential to US national security over the next decade.
In April the bank also said it would expand its commitment to companies in the UK and Europe.
Global investors have begun to rethink China as the country moves up the value chain in fields such as renewable technology and industrial hardware.
Dimon praised the country’s innovation, saying investors have long been interested in “their cars and their batteries and their solar and their machine tools”.
Western financial institutions have struggled to gain ground in China in recent years amid deteriorating geopolitical relations between Beijing and Washington and a slowing mainland economy.
Dimon told the Shanghai conference in 2024 that parts of its business in China had “fallen off a cliff”.
On Thursday the JPMorgan chief also defended his former colleague Bill Winters, now chief executive of Standard Chartered. Winters was forced to reassure colleagues on Wednesday after announcing thousands of job cuts and using the phrase “lower-value human capital” in reference to staff.
“It was an inartful way to say something,” Dimon said, warning that the job losses stemming from AI “will be more than you think. But it will also create some jobs . . . I think it’s incumbent on society to think through if it happens too fast, what do we do about it?”
Asked about AI’s impact on his own bank, Dimon responded: “Yes, it will reduce some jobs. We know that. I can’t tell you specifically what, because it’s kind of at the early stages.”
The JPMorgan chief hit out at New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. “They think that somehow being anti-business is going to help the city. It’s not,” he said. “A lot of people [who] are paying billion-dollar taxes left . . . how does that help the lower-paid person in New York?” Dimon added.
