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A smiling President Donald Trump thanked some of the biggest U.S. companies for about 10 minutes on Wednesday at the White House, where he was celebrating his trade deal with China. When it came to JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) & Co., he asked for reciprocation.
“They just announced earnings and they were incredible,” he said as he greeted Mary Erdoes, who heads asset and wealth management for the biggest U.S. bank. “They were very substantial. Will you say, ‘Thank you, Mr. President,’ at least, huh?” JPMorgan on Tuesday posted the most profitable year for any U.S. bank in history.
“I made a lot of bankers look very good. But you’re doing a great job.” He told her to “say hello” to the firm’s billionaire chief executive officer, Jamie Dimon. “I think we’re seeing him tomorrow.”
Trump has made a rollback of regulation and corporate taxes one of the hallmarks of his presidency. But his relationship with Dimon has fluctuated: In 2018, the JPMorgan CEO said he was smarter than Trump and could beat him in an election, but quickly backtracked.
Erdoes wasn’t the only major finance executive the president called out. Trump thanked billionaire Ken Griffin, who runs the hedge fund empire Citadel, but couldn’t spot him: “Where the hell is he? He’s trying to hide some of his money. Look, he doesn’t want to stand up.” Griffin wasn’t in the room, his spokeswoman said.
And Trump had a question for Moody’s Corp. CEO Raymond McDaniel: “Are you giving us good ratings, Raymond, please?”
There were other corporate figures at the White House, including Stephen P. Vaughn, a partner in international trade at law firm King & Spalding. “I could use some good legal advice. You have some good lawyers?” Trump said. “Eh, to hell with it. I just have to suffer through it the way I have all my life.”
(Adds Citadel spokeswoman comment in fifth paragraph)