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JPMorgan Chase will take stakes in companies of up to a total of $10bn to help fund growth in areas it deems critical to US security, the latest sign of Donald Trump’s “America First” policies being adopted by big business.
The investment plans are part of a broader 10-year initiative that JPMorgan announced on Monday through which it is aiming to facilitate and finance $1.5tn in so-called critical industries.
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said it had “become painfully clear that the US has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing.”
“You need America to be very, very strong to secure global security,” Dimon said in a call with reporters following the announcement. “If America isn’t very strong, there’s no global security.”
JPMorgan said it will focus on four themes critical to national security and infrastructure — supply chains and advanced manufacturing, defence and aerospace, energy independence and resilience and frontier and strategic technologies.
The $10bn in investments will be the bank’s own funds and go mainly towards companies in the US. They will be direct equity and venture capital investments.
“This is not philanthropy,” Dimon said. “This is 100 per cent commercial. We are going to take our resources of research, bankers and investors, and we’re going to scour the United States and maybe the world for a new opportunity.”
On the broader $1.5tn goal, the bank said it had already planned to facilitate and finance about $1tn over the next decade to support clients in these important industries and it was aiming to increase that by 50 per cent.
The bank plans to hire more bankers to achieve this goal and also intends to form an external advisory force of made up of people from the public and the private sectors.
Although there was no mention of Trump and Dimon said he had “not spoken to anyone in the government”, the goal set by JPMorgan is likely to appeal to the White House’s policy agenda to ensure existing and emerging critical infrastructure and technology are present in the US.
Rare earth minerals are one example of an industry that has given Beijing leverage over the US in trade talks due to China’s industry dominance.
Dimon is one of the most influential voices on Wall Street and regularly declares his patriotism in public remarks.
Banks have in the past attached enormous financing goals that are in sympathy with public policy, including JPMorgan announcing in 2021 that it was targeting more than $2.5tn over 10 years to advance solutions that address climate change.
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