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 like 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, 94, 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 between countries, he doesn’t think Mr. Trump is going about it the right way with his widespread tariffs. He said the world will be safer if more countries are 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.
Tariffs were the top subject that shareholders asked about in the questions they sent ahead of time to the CNBC reporter who will grill Buffett and his top two managers throughout the day. But investors will also be looking for him to explain why he is sitting on $347.7 billion in cash at Berkshire.
Buffett said he just doesn’t see many attractively priced investments that he understands these days, but he predicted that one day Berkshire will be “bombarded with opportunities that we will be glad we have the cash for.”
The meeting attracts some 40,000 people, including celebrities and well-known investors. Hillary Rodham Clinton was in attendance this year. Clinton was the last candidate Buffett backed publicly, before backing away from politics and other controversial topics for fear of hurting Berkshire’s businesses.
Attendee Haibo Liu traveled from China and camped out overnight outside the arena to be first in line Saturday morning.
“He has helped me a lot,” said Liu. “I really want to express my thanks to him.”
Liu said he worries that this year could be the last meeting for Buffett, so he made it a priority to attend.
Buffett, who has been leading Berkshire Hathaway for 60 years, has long said he has no plans to retire because he enjoys figuring out where to invest Berkshire’s money too much. He plans to continue working until he dies or becomes incapacitated. He remains in good health, though he does use a cane, and he shortened the meeting’s question-and-answer period this year by a couple of hours.
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