JP Morgan chief executive officer Jamie Dimon is in Shanghai, China this week to support the company’s operational efforts in the country.
He’s also offering full-throated support for the U.S. government while he’s there.
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Making his first trip to China since before the covid-19 pandemic, Dimon is the main event as JP Morgan hosts the Morgan Tech Exchange conference, the China New Economy Forum, and the Global China Summit this week in Shanghai.
While there, Dimon made clear while he believes China is making progress on opening its markets up to the world, he’s an American first, and JP Morgan will take an “America First” stance when it comes to regional public policy.
“We do business with 100 countries around the world,” Dimon told Bloomberg in a May 31 interview. “In each country, we’re there for the citizens of that country and we only leave for war. (But) when we do business in a country we’re there for the good times and bad times.”
Describing himself as a “red-blooded, full-throated capitalist” and “as an American patriot”, Dimon says he’ll listen closely when hearing from the U.S. government on China policy. “There’s always going to be risk and some countries will act differently. If our country tells us to do ‘ABC’ in a different country, then we’ll do A, B, and C.”
Regarding US government policy on China, Dimon agrees with the US State Department that accommodations with its Far East rival can be made.
“If people have deep conversations and respect each other, I think the US got it right when it said recently that (government China policy) is not decoupling, it’s de-risking.”
Dimon said JP Morgan will do what it needs to do to operate in the world’s second-largest economy. But if Uncle Sam comes calling, JP Morgan will also do what it needs to do.
“China is going to do what it needs for itself,” he said. “But national security trumps all those issues.”
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