Certain events happen during every presidential campaign. The parties crown their candidates. The candidates debate on live TV, with millions watching. Tens of millions head to the polls. And at some point in this process, Jamie Dimon will be tipped as the next treasury secretary.
Sure enough, the veteran boss of JPMorgan Chase – Wall Street’s de facto ambassador to the world – was, indeed, linked with the role this time around as the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump campaigns mulled their options in the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election.
But as the world came to terms with his victory, and Trump started to piece together his administration, the president-elect made clear in a social media post that Dimon “will not be invited” to join.
The people who did get the invite underline why Dimon – one of the most prominent leaders in corporate America, and head of America’s biggest bank – did not. Considering him for a post might be a time-honored tradition, but this is not business as usual.
Trump values reputation, establishment and star power. But not as much as he values getting his way.
Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend and co-chair of his transition team, remarked during the campaign that Trump “picked unfortunately” last time around. Industrial giants and former military generals did not wholeheartedly embrace his agenda.
Not this time.
Trump has picked Lutnick, for starters – CEO of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald – as his commerce secretary, tasked with delivering his policy on tariffs and trade.
While Lutnick was reported to have directly lobbied to run the treasury, that job went to the financier Scott Bessent, after days of jostling and speculation.
With both appointments, Trump is said to have been wary of appointing a candidate who did not ardently believe in the tariffs and tax strategy at the center of his economic plan for the US.
Economists have warned that the introduction of steep tariffs could reignite inflation. Budget experts have warned that Trump’s wider plans could add as much as $15tn to US debt over 10 years.
The president-elect wants to keep such caution outside the tent – and has pulled together a band of staunch loyalists to drive through it.
During Bessent’s campaign for the treasury job, he loudly made the case for tariffs, dismissing economists’ warnings as “fundamentally incorrect” in a column for Fox News.
Not long after a line was very publicly drawn under the talk of Dimon as treasury secretary, the Wall Street titan appeared on stage at a summit in Lima, Peru. He wished Trump well, “but I just want to tell the president also: I haven’t had a boss in 25 years, and I’m not about ready to start”.
The boss preparing to return to the White House in January has made up his mind. He does not seem prepared to hire anyone who might try to change it – on the economy, or any other key facet of his agenda.
Presidential administrations are rarely a broad church. Trump appears to be building a narrow pew.
