JPMorgan CEO Dimon urges the U.S. to "become stronger" to defend economic and military strength

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. needs to “get stronger” in order to maintain its military and economic strength, and outlined the firm’s plan to put more than $1 trillion to work to provide support.

“As long as the right policies are pursued and put into concrete action, the United States will remain the strongest military power and the strongest economic engine, and continue as a fortress of freedom and a democratic arsenal of production,” Dimon wrote in his letter to shareholders on Monday. But “success is not a guaranteed right of any nation.”

Dimon’s latest remarks follow the second of two initiatives JPMorgan Chase rolled out to address macro policy issues. The “American Dream Initiative” announced by the bank last week is intended to expand economic opportunities in local communities across the United States. The “Safety and Resilience Initiative,” launched last October, pledged to allocate $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years to industries aimed at strengthening America’s economic security and resilience.

These moves also mark a new stage in Dimon’s tenure at JPMorgan Chase. The outside world has long been familiar with his interest in policy matters, and there have been years of speculation about the possibility that he might take a government position—though it never came to pass. Now, Dimon has chosen to advance his own policy agenda at a bank he has led for more than 20 years.

“We have a responsibility to help shape the right policies—not just for our company, but for the country and the world,” he wrote. “Many companies can only thrive when their home countries are thriving.”

Just turned 70 last month, Dimon has built JPMorgan Chase into the largest and most profitable bank in the United States, gradually earning the image of an elder statesman in the industry. His widely watched annual letter to shareholders in recent years has increasingly ventured into policy issues beyond banking.

In this 48-page letter, which includes footnotes, the section with the longest length is titled “Key Issues Facing the U.S. and the World.”

He noted that conflicts around the world “should shatter the illusion that the world is safe” completely.

Dimon has long warned about geopolitical risks, repeatedly emphasizing that they are more serious than any other concern he has encountered during his career. He wrote that a war in Iran could trigger dramatic swings in future oil and commodity prices, and whether the action can achieve both the region’s short- and long-term objectives will be “proven by time.”

Private credit

In his letter to shareholders, Dimon also lists private credit as one of the potential risks. Last year, he warned that some newly emerging credit losses may signal that there are more problems in the system.

More recently, multiple high-profile bankruptcies and fraud cases, along with concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt software companies, have continued to weigh on direct lending institutions. This has prompted investors to pull more money out of funds managed by asset managers, including Blue Owl Capital Company.

Dimon said that private credit “may not” pose a systemic risk, but he warned that losses on leveraged loans will be higher than expected, partly because credit standards were “moderately” weakened.

“Overall, private credit often has low transparency, and there is a lack of rigorous valuation ‘yardsticks’ for its loans—this increases the likelihood that people will sell when conditions deteriorate, even if the actual losses are almost unchanged,” he said.

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Responsible editor: Li Zhaofu