How the United States manages its fragile relationship with China will affect the future of the world, said Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan.
“It’s the common thread of Ukraine, of oil and gas, of food, of migration, of all our relationships, the biggest one being China,” Dimon told Bloomberg’s Emily Chang in an interview broadcast Wednesday. “This is most important for the future of the world.”
“And obviously Ukraine affects it. In fact, it’s very difficult to envision really positive outcomes with China until the war in Ukraine is resolved,” Dimon said, referring to the conflict in course between Ukraine and Russia.
Dimon gave his assessment of China in a lengthy interview with Chang, where he talked about his career and the impact of AI on employment.
In May, Dimon also advocated for increased engagement between the United States and China. Speaking at JPMorgan’s Global China Summit in Shanghai, he said he found it encouraging that U.S. leaders were talking about risk reduction.
“You’re not going to solve these problems if you sit across the Pacific shouting at each other. So I hope we have real engagement,” Dimon said, according to Reuters.
Dimon’s new remarks on China come as the world’s second-largest economy finds itself in tense relations with the United States. And in January, CIA chief William J. Burns said China posed a far greater threat to the United States than Russia.
“While Russia may pose the most immediate challenge, China poses the greatest long-term threat,” Burns wrote in a January 30 Foreign Affairs editorial.
China is also set to become a focal point of U.S. foreign policy, regardless of who wins this year’s presidential elections. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have both outlined how they would confront and deal with China if elected in 2024.
On Wednesday, Biden called for higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“They have a population that has more retirees than workers. They don’t import anything,” Biden said. “They’re xenophobic. No one else is coming. They have real problems.”
But while Dimon singled out China as a significant risk to the world, he told Chang he was optimistic about the United States’ ability to handle them.
“Everything will be fine, but we need very good American leadership to make it happen,” Dimon said.
“And don’t worry, they’re not 10-foot giants, they have a lot of problems. America has a lot of tension. I like the fact that the U.S. government is constantly talking to them now,” he said. he adds.
businessinsider
