Warren Buffett reiterated his stance on tariffs during Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder weekend in Omaha, Nebraska. What does the billionaire investor think? He still doesn't like them.
International trade, trade barriers and tariffs were part of the first question posed to the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO, 94, during a Saturday morning question-and-answer session.
"There's no question that trade can be an act of war and I think it's led to bad things, just the attitudes it's brought out in the United States," he said. "I mean, we should be looking to trade with the rest of the world and we should do what we do best and they should do what they do best."
Buffett previously called tariffs "an act of war, to some degree," in a March 2025 interview with CBS News. "Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the Tooth Fairy doesn't pay 'em!"
In answering the initial question at the shareholder meeting, Buffett recalled "import certificates," his proposal to balance trade and avoid trade deficits - laid out in a 2003 Fortune essay - in which U.S. exporters would earn import certificates, which could, in turn, be sold to companies looking to import goods into the U.S.
Buffett went on to say free trade helps all countries. "We want a prosperous world," he said. With eight countries with nuclear weapons, including a few that are what I would call quite unstable, I do not think it's a great idea to try and design a world where a few countries say, 'Ha, ha, we've won,' and other countries are envious."
"Trade should not be a weapon," he said. And the U.S. doesn't need to wage a trade war because the country has already won, Buffett said. "We have become an incredibly important country, starting from nothing, 250 years ago. There's nothing anything like it," he said.
"The more prosperous the rest of the world becomes, it won't be at our expense," Buffett said. "The more prosperous we will become and the safer we'll feel and your children will feel someday."
Tariffs, and resultant uncertainty, were also addressed in Berkshire Hathaway's quarterly report issued May 3 "We are currently unable to reliably predict the potential impact on our businesses, whether through changes in product costs, supply chain costs and efficiency, and customer demand for our products and services," the company said.
Mike Snider is a reporter on USA TODAY's Trending team. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, X and email him atmikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com
What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day