Warren Buffett says ‘trade should not be a weapon’ at annual Berkshire meeting

Although the typical shareholder meeting is a dusty, staid affair, the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting is entirely different.

Warren Buffett has finally shared what he thinks about tariffs. The famed investor and CEO of multinational conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) on Saturday talked about America’s trade wars, calling them a “big mistake” at the firm’s annual shareholding meeting at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. “Trade should not be a weapon,” said Buffett. He also said that “trade could be an act of war.” “The United States won. I mean, we have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing 250 years ago, there’s nothing that anything like it,” Buffett said. Before Buffett spoke, Berkshire released its quarterly report, where it said tariffs could have a negative impact on its growth. “Changes in macroeconomic conditions and geopolitical events, including changes in international trade policies and tariffs, may negatively affect our operating results and the values of our investments in equity securities and of our operating businesses,” Berkshire said Saturday in its quarterly note. “We are currently unable to reliably predict the nature, timing or magnitude of the potential economic consequences of any such changes or the impacts on our Consolidated Financial Statements.”