Trump backs Durbin-Marshall swipe fee bill

• Key insight: Trump's comments renew interest in a bill that has been floating around Congress for years but that has failed to attach itself to an appropriate legislative vehicle. 
• What's at stake: Trump's support for the measure is a significant blow to the bank lobby, who have been in a longstanding conflict with retailers over the issue. 
• Forward look: Trump's newfound support for the Durbin-Marshall bill could spur a vote before the 2026 midterm elections, but even if that vote fails the issue may gain new life in the next Congress. 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to back swipe fee legislation that bankers have strongly opposed. 

Trump said on social media that lawmakers should support the Credit Card Competition Act, a piece of legislation sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Roger Marshall, R-Kansas. The legislation has had momentum in Congress in fits and starts for years, at one point even drawing the support of now-Vice President J.D. Vance, but typically failing to garner sufficient Republican support to bring the measure to the floor. 

Trump's endorsement of the bill could change that calculus. Republicans have been gradually opening up to the idea of the Durbin-Marshall bill, which would require credit cards issued by banks with more than $100 billion in assets to offer merchants the choice between two unaffiliated card networks, at least one of which cannot be Visa or Mastercard.

"If we had to vote on this bill today, I don't know how I would vote," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., at a hearing with credit card executives in November 2024. "You need to sit down and work this out, because if you don't, Congress is going to do something." 

Trump's support of the legislation comes just days after he said the White House wants to cap credit card interest rates at 10%. While the White House has no ability to do that on its own, Trump's bully pulpit has proved a powerful tool to get Congressional Republicans to fall in line, especially ahead of a difficult reelection cycle. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday that "my assumption is at some point it probably gets voted on." 

Throughout his three campaigns and two terms, Trump has oscillated between industry interests, at times pushing for measures that bankers generally support — like a lower corporate tax rate and undermining bank regulators' power— and attacking the financial industry in a populist vein. 

Bank groups immediately decried the new push for the legislation.

"One surefire way to make life less affordable for Americans would be to pass the misguided Durbin-Marshall credit card mandate, which would harm consumers, small businesses and the community financial institutions that drive local economies," the American Bankers Association said in a statement. "Lawmakers have rightly rejected past attempts at legislation and amendments to mandate the reengineering of the nation's trusted, resilient and efficient credit card payments system just to boost the profits of the nation's largest retailers. This Congress should again reject this harmful proposal." 

JPMorgan Chase even addressed Trump's comments on their fourth quarter earnings conference call. 

"If it were to happen, it would be very bad for consumers, very bad for the economy," Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said Tuesday on the call.