The CEOs of BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase have issued grim warnings about how the US economy might be headed for recession. In the wake of the stock market shake-up due to Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs and China's pushback, Larry Fink expressed worry over an impending trade war. Similarly, Jamie Dimon said that the president's move has caused “considerable turbulence.”
“The sweeping US tariff announcements went beyond anything I could have imagined in my 49 years in finance,” Fink told analysts following BlackRock’s first-quarter earnings release, Bloomberg reported. “This isn’t Wall Street versus Main Street. The market downturn impacts millions of ordinary people’s retirement savings.”
Fink's remark comes after China hit back with a 125% tariff on American products after Trump hiked the taxes on imports from China to a staggering 145%. During a recent interview with CNBC, the BlackRock CEO said, “I think we’re very close, if not in, a recession now,” adding, “In the short run, we have an economy that is at risk.”
Meanwhile, Dimon said, “The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars’, ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility.” “As always, we hope for the best but prepare the firm for a wide range of scenarios.”
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Dimon said, “The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and ‘trade wars’, ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility.” “As always, we hope for the best but prepare the firm for a wide range of scenarios.”
{{/usCountry}}Earlier this week, Dimon echoed similar sentiments as Fink, telling Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, “I think probably [a recession is] a likely outcome, because markets, I mean, when you see a 2,000-point decline [in the Dow Jones Industrial Average], it sort of feeds on itself, doesn’t it?” “It makes you feel like you’re losing money in your 401(k), you’re losing money in your pension. You’ve got to cut back.”