Bloomberg Talks · Sep 29, 2026 · 16m · 5m saved
With Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase · Jim Farley, CEO of Ford · Gretchen Whitmer, Governor of Michigan
Ford is committing $1 billion of purchasing to new manufacturing suppliers, and JPMorgan is putting fresh capital behind them, under a Michigan-only program the two companies launched with the state this week. Most large manufacturers still source components like magnets and rare earths from overseas; Ford, JPMorgan and Michigan's governor built a program that instead pays suppliers to build those parts in Michigan.
"It's a crisis."
Jim Farley, who has run Ford since 2020 and is rebuilding its lineup around a $30,000 electric pickup, said that about the 1.7 million open skilled-trades jobs in the US. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan, the country's largest bank, said JPMorgan has already put $5 billion of its own capital into companies rebuilding US supply chains, toward a $1.5 trillion, ten-year pledge he expects to beat.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 16 minutes of audio, 11 minutes of reading.
Here are the 8 numbers that matter.
Key Takeaways
Ford is committing $1 billion of purchasing to new Michigan suppliers
Only Michigan companies qualify
JPMorgan has already put $5 billion directly into supply-chain and security companies, and Dimon expects the wider $1.5 trillion pledge to be raised
1.7 million US skilled-trades jobs sit open, and only 2% of college and high school advisors recommend a trade school over a four-year degree
Ford's new EV costs $30,000, is built in Louisville, Kentucky, and Farley says it will compete with BYD if the Chinese maker builds in Mexico
Dimon says $20 to $30 trillion is invested each way between the US and the rest of the world, which is why he wants US-allied trade deals finished, not torn up
Michigan ranks 4th nationally for workforce, per Site Selection Magazine, and offers free community college
Dimon says the capital crowding out AI investment is government borrowing, not private AI spending
The Ford GM plants stopped building cars entirely from 1942 to 1945 and built 144 aircraft carriers, 100,000 warplanes and 100,000 tanks instead
1. Ford's $1B Reshoring Bet
David Westin asked Jim Farley what Michigan LIFT, the new "launchpad for industrial innovation and transformation," actually does. Farley described a reshoring problem the initiative is meant to fix.
Ford is buying magnets and rare earths from US suppliers it used to source overseas
"We're trying to fix a problem onshoring things that were offshored in the name of pennies on the dollar to make here in the U.S." — Jim Farley
He said the goal is independence rather than reliance on suppliers overseas, and put a number on Ford's own commitment.
"Ford's going to commit a billion dollars of purchasing for new companies that are going to be building advanced manufacturing, new capabilities, even magnets and rare earth that we used to buy overseas and now we're going to buy here with the help of J.P. Morgan as well as the state of Michigan." — Jim Farley
Only Michigan companies qualify for the program. Westin then asked Dimon why markets, which have served the US well for years, don't already take care of this on their own.
Dimon: an innovator still needs someone willing to place the order
"So I think markets will take care of a lot of it, but if you're an innovative company and you invented something here, you need an order, he's got to order it, it's got to actually work, they may have to build a real plant, not just an experimental plant, and so it takes that whole group of us to do this kind of thing." — Jamie Dimon
He called the effort one that "needs to be done everywhere in a lot of industries to make sure the United States can defend itself."
