Buffett says U.S. shouldn't use ‘trade as a weapon' as Trump has done with tariffs

Los Angeles Times

03-05-2025

OMAHA — Investor Warren Buffett told thousands of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday that the United States shouldn't use 'trade as a weapon' and anger the rest of the world as he says President Trump has done with his tariffs that roiled global markets.
'It's a big mistake in my view when you have 7.5 billion people who don't like you very well, and you have 300 million who are crowing about how they have done,' Buffett said as he addressed the topic on everyone's mind at the start of the shareholders meeting.
While Buffett said it is best for trade to be balanced among countries, he doesn't think Trump is going about it the right way with his widespread tariffs. He said the world would be safer if more countries were prosperous.
'We should be looking to trade with the rest of the world. We should do what we do best and they should do what they do best,' he said.
America has been going through revolutionary changes ever since its birth and the promise of equality for all, which wasn't fulfilled until years later, Buffett said. But nothing that is going on today has changed his long-term optimism about the country.
'If I were being born today, I would just keep negotiating in the womb until they said, 'You could be in the United States,' ' Buffett said.
Buffett said he just doesn't see many attractively priced investments that he understands these days, so Berkshire is sitting on $347.7 billion in cash, but he predicted that one day Berkshire will be 'bombarded with opportunities that we will be glad we have the cash for.'
Buffett said the recent turmoil in the markets that generated headlines after Trump's tariff announcement last month 'is really nothing.' He dismissed the recent drop in the market because he's seen three periods in the last 60 years of managing Berkshire when his company's stock was halved. He noted when the Dow Jones industrial average went from 240 on the day he was born in 1930 down to 41 during the Great Depression as a truly significant drop in the markets. Currently the Dow sits at 41,317.43 points.
'This has not been a dramatic bear market or anything of the sort,' he said.
Buffett said he hasn't bought back any of Berkshire's shares this year because they don't seem to be a bargain either.
Investor Chris Bloomstran, who is president of Semper Augustus Investments Group, told the Gabelli investment conference Friday that a financial crisis might be the best thing for Berkshire because it would create opportunities to invest at attractive prices.
'I'm sure he's praying that the trade war gets worse. He won't say that publicly, but Berkshire needs a crisis. I mean Berkshire thrives in crisis,' Bloomstran said.
The meeting attracts some 40,000 people every year who want to hear from Buffett, including some celebrities and well-known investors. This year, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also attended. Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Trump, was the last candidate Buffett backed publicly; he has shied away from politics and any controversial topic in recent years for fear of hurting Berkshire's businesses.
Haibo Liu camped out overnight outside the arena to be first in line Saturday morning. Liu said he worries that this year could be Buffett's last meeting since he is 94, so he made it a priority to attend his second meeting.
'He has helped me a lot,' said Liu, who traveled from China to attend. 'I really want to express my thanks to him.'
Shareholder Linda Smith, 73, first learned about Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway when she rented a room from his sister, Doris, while she was a graduate student in Washington, D.C. Smith said Doris came home from an annual meeting not long after Berkshire bought See's Candies and told her she had to buy the stock.
Smith couldn't buy it immediately because the price of a single share was about $3,400, about the same as her annual income as a grad student. But as soon as she got a job after college, she took her friend's advice and began saving up to buy some of the stock that now sells for $809,350.
Over the years, Smith estimates she has probably attended about 20 annual meetings — often bringing a friend.
'I really like to listen to Warren Buffett — particularly this year with everything that has happened,' Smith said.
Buffett has long said he has no plans to retire because he enjoys figuring out where to invest Berkshire's money. He plans to continue working until he dies or becomes incapacitated. But he remains in good health even though he does use a cane, and he shortened the meeting's question and answer period this year by a couple of hours.
'I think even if he dies, these businesses will retain their value,' Smith said while looking around the 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall filled with booths from Berkshire companies such as BNSF railroad, Geico insurance, Pilot truck stops, Duracell batteries and many others. 'I anticipate my stock going down for a while, but good businesses and good people will come back,' she said.
Buffett has said that Vice Chairman Greg Abel, who already oversees all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses, will take over as chief executive officer when he is gone.
Shareholders such as Steven Check, who runs Check Capital Management, aren't especially worried about succession because Abel is proven and Berkshire's businesses largely run themselves. Buffett has said that Abel might even be a more hands-on manager than he is and get more out of Berkshire's companies.
'I think we'll get a more hands-on manager and that could be a good thing,' Check said.
Funk writes for the Associated Press.