'US can’t lead on...': JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon slams US immigration missteps, warns against aiding China’s tech edge

America hasn’t handled immigration well — and it's time that changed, says JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Speaking at the Data + AI Summit 2025 in San Francisco, Dimon made a strong pitch for merit-based immigration, linking it to the country’s enduring global influence. “America is indispensable,” he said, not because it’s inherently superior, but because of what it offers: freedom, prosperity, and opportunity. “It’s what brought people here.”

Dimon’s comments came during a wide-ranging conversation with Databricks CEO and Co-founder Ali Ghodsi. Emphasizing the need for smarter immigration policies, he said, “America's role is indispensable. That role is economic, it's military, it's education, it's allowing people to come here, want to stay here, like more merit-based, which we should be doing.”

Drawing from personal history, Dimon noted that his grandparents were Greek immigrants who never went to high school, a reminder of how immigration has shaped American success stories.

Dimon didn’t stop at immigration. “We don't do mortgage policies well, we didn't do immigration policies well, we don't do affordable housing policies well… we don't teach work skills properly,” he said, listing areas where the U.S. needs reform. Yet, he reaffirmed faith in the nation’s ideals: “People come here to be Americans… freedom of speech and freedom of enterprise and freedom.”

His remarks also came amid heightened immigration crackdowns by the Trump administration, a backdrop that gave his pro-immigration stance added weight.

On the global front, Dimon was unequivocal: American military leadership is “essential to maintaining a free and democratic world.” He warned against enabling China’s military capabilities, especially through technology. “You do not want to give them nano chips that improve their supersonic missiles,” he cautioned, noting that when China takes on a project, “they put 50,000 engineers on it.”

His message was clear: if America is to stay indispensable, it must defend its strengths abroad and fix what’s faltering at home — from immigration to education and technology policy.