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JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has vowed to “deepen” the bank’s engagement with China, according to a state media account of a meeting between the banker and senior Chinese officials that included Beijing’s top trade negotiator.
The meetings came weeks after Beijing and Washington agreed to cut respective tariffs by 115 percentage points for 90 days, a marked de-escalation of trade tensions. Dimon’s comments can be seen as a further sign of the rapprochement in tensions between the US and China.
In a meeting with trade negotiator and vice-premier He Lifeng, Dimon said the US bank would “deepen its engagement” with China’s capital markets as well as helping multinationals in the mainland and Chinese companies in their overseas development, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The vice-premier, a close ally of President Xi Jinping, said China wants US companies to “continue contributing to the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China-US economic and trade relations,” according to the Xinhua readout.
On Friday, Dimon, whose bank is holding an annual conference in Shanghai this week, met Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Both sides exchanged views “on promoting exchanges between the business communities of China and the US and deepening co-operation in the financial investment field”, state media said.
Beijing has consistently sought to court top US business leaders throughout a period of worsening political relations with Washington. Apple chief executive Tim Cook and investor Ray Dalio attended a conference in the Chinese capital in March. Both also met He Lifeng.
US companies have had to tread carefully in China as tariffs have mounted and tensions worsened during US President Donald Trump’s second term.
PVH, the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, was added to a special entity list in the mainland earlier this year — the first such addition for a company with major operations on the ground — while Walmart was summoned by authorities over reports that it was pressuring suppliers to cut prices.
US financial firms have struggled in the mainland, despite a trade agreement in 2020 that allows them to fully own their businesses rather than operate through joint ventures.
As well as a securities business in China, JPMorgan in 2020 became the first foreign company to own its own futures business on the mainland and in 2023 took full ownership of its asset management joint venture.
At a closed-door speech at the same conference in Shanghai last year, Dimon said parts of his bank’s business had “fallen off a cliff” in China. New listings have fallen dramatically under a new regulatory approach, while cross-border mergers and acquisitions have also dried up.
One person who attended the conference this year said Dimon’s tone on China was “bullish”, with references to the country’s tech developments.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
