Warren Buffett Says ‘Trade Should Not Be a Weapon’

Warren Buffett told investors at his Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK.A, BRK.B) annual meeting Saturday that he believes “there is no question that trade can be an act of war, and I think it’s led to bad things,” echoing statements earlier this year.

“Trade should not be a weapon,” he said at the event, which draws tens of thousands of people each year, adding that the United States has already “won,” in his view, as an “incredibly important country,” that “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.”

“It’s a big mistake, in my view, when you have seven and a half billion people that don’t like you very well, and you got 300 million that are crowing in some way about how well they’ve done—I don’t think it’s right, and I don’t think it’s wise,” he said. 

The comments come after a volatile stretch for markets amid worries about the economy in the face of President Trump’s rapidly shifting tariff policies. Government data out earlier this week showed the U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in three years.

“The pace of changes in these events, including international trade policies and tariffs, has accelerated in 2025,” contributing to “considerable uncertainty,” Berkshire said in its first-quarter earnings report.