Dimon said it is important an agreement is reached between the European Union and the US, adding that a tariff framework “needs to get done.”
His comments come as the EU seeks to conclude a preliminary trade deal with the US that could allow the bloc to lock in a 10% tariff rate beyond an Aug. 1 deadline as they negotiate a permanent agreement.“The EU has a huge problem at the moment” in competitiveness, Dimon said, in relation to the region’s sluggish growth. Those issues were outlined last year in a report by Mario Draghi, the former Italian prime minister.
“The goal should be to make Europe stronger and keep America and Europe together,” he added. “The Draghi report, it’s all in there. So when we talk about capital markets union, basically everything should be single market. It’s going to be hard to do.”
In the wide-ranging comments, Dimon also said he believes the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates — even as the market indicates otherwise. Anticipation of firmer inflation has kept the US central bank from delivering interest-rate cuts this year as it waits to see what happens.
“I think the possibility of those higher rates are higher than anyone else thinks,” he said. “If the market is pricing a 20% chance, I’m pricing in a 40% to 50% chance.”
The Trump administration is applying intense pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to bring down borrowing costs. “CUT INTEREST RATES JEROME — NOW IS THE TIME!” Trump wrote in a social-media post this week.
