Many well-known economists, including Robert Reich (who served as secretary of labor in the Clinton Administration) and former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have been warning that the tariffs President Donald Trump is proposing could cause severe inflation.
Trump’s proposals include 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on all goods imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico and tariffs as high as 60 percent on some goods coming from Mainland China. And Reich and Krugman are warning that consumers will be paying a lot more for a variety of goods, from produce to electronics, if those tariffs go through.
But JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon defended tariffs during a Wednesday, January 22 appearance on CNBC.
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During the World Economic Forum — which is taking place in Davos, Switzerland — Dimon told CNBC that tariffs can be used as either “an economic tool” or “an economic weapon.”
The JPMorgan Chase CEO argued, “I would put in perspective: If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.”
Dimon also said that tariffs can be used to “bring people to the table.”
When Walter Bloomberg tweeted Dimon’s comments, Democratic activist Armand D. Domalewski — who co-founded the pro-Kamala Harris YIMBYs for Harris in 2024 — responded, “can you imagine if a Democrat had said something like ‘yeah it’s gonna raise prices but it’s good for you’ during the Biden administration?”
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Watch the full video below or at this link.
