Warren E. Buffett took a shot at President Trump’s efforts to use tariffs to batter global commerce on Saturday, as his $1.1 trillion conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, braced for potential hits from American trade policies.
“Trade should not be a weapon,” Mr. Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting, a perennially popular event that has been nicknamed the Woodstock of capitalism. “I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think it’s wise.”
Mr. Buffett’s comments were long awaited by Berkshire’s shareholders, tens of thousands of whom flocked to the company’s hometown in Omaha to hear directly from the investor — particularly on Mr. Trump’s trade policies. His comments on Saturday ended what had been months of Mr. Buffett maintaining a largely low public profile.
Mr. Buffett’s comments were especially notable as the 94-year-old billionaire acknowledged that he had previously proposed an idea to help address trade imbalances. But on Saturday, the Berkshire chief defended the broader concept of global trade flows: “We should do what we do best and they should do what they do best,” he said, drawing applause.
Fears about the consequences of the tariffs have roiled markets and affected vast swaths of American companies. That includes Berkshire, which on Saturday reported a sharp drop in first-quarter earnings.
The company reported $9.6 billion in operating income, Mr. Buffett’s preferred measure, down 14 percent from the same time a year ago. Using generally accepted accounting principles, Berkshire reported a nearly 64 percent drop in net income, largely because of paper investment losses.
The company reported that a “majority” of its businesses had lower sales and earnings in the first three months of the year, particularly in insurance underwriting income, which was hit by losses tied to the California wildfires.
In a regulatory filing on Saturday, Berkshire warned that Mr. Trump’s trade policies were generating “considerable uncertainty,” which could affect the company’s operating results. “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.”
That said, BNSF’s net earnings rose in the quarter, as the railroad said it benefited from higher volumes in the first three months of the year. During the period, many companies raced to stockpile goods before Mr. Trump’s tariffs took effect.
One thing that stood out was Berkshire’s cash hoard, which Mr. Buffett has often called his “elephant gun” and used to make major acquisitions, only continued to grow as the investor found few attractive opportunities of size to spend on. Berkshire’s cash pile in the quarter grew to $347.7 billion, a record.
Mr. Buffett also continued to be a net seller of stocks: Berkshire sold $4.68 billion worth of equity in the quarter, compared with $3.18 billion in purchases.
Berkshire is often regarded as a bellwether for corporate America, given its wide array of businesses. The company owns one of the nation’s biggest railroads, BNSF, as well as a powerful insurance operation, an energy utility, many consumer brands — from See’s Candies to Fruit of the Loom — and more.
A number of prominent corporate and business leaders were on hand on Saturday, including the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tim Cook of Apple (which is one of Berkshire’s biggest stock holdings) and the billionaire financier William A. Ackman. Two first timers, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Priscilla Chan, the wife of Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, were also present.
Andrew Ross Sorkin contributed reporting.
