President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of new tariffs has stoked fears of another high-stakes trade war. Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, expressed detailed views on the trade conflicts that broke out during Trump’s first term in 2018 and 2019. Subsequently, the “Oracle of Omaha” said that the Republican Party’s radical measures may have negative consequences around the world, including triggering inflation that may harm consumer interests. Buffett said in an interview with CNBC in 2019: “If we do have a trade war, it will be bad for the entire world…Everything in the world is interconnected.” “A world that is adapted to be very close to free trade …More people will be better off than in a world where tariffs are high and tariffs change over time Before Trump takes office as the next president of the United States on January 20, he has laid out his plans for what he plans to do on his first day in office. A new round of tariffs was imposed. In a series of social media posts, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on China, citing illegal immigration and the illegal drug trade as reasons. “Tax consumers” The legendary investor said that the benefits of free trade are actually invisible because consumers have become accustomed to the way goods are priced. However, a reversal of this situation could result in a price surge that would be felt immediately. Buffett said tariffs are a “tax on consumers.” “It changes the way people buy. It changes where products are made… If we mandated that all clothes had to be made in the United States, you don’t know how much you would pay for the clothes you wear today.” He believes that a country’s Leaders should do a good job of explaining the rationale behind trade policy changes. Some believe the president-elect is abandoning his freewheeling threats as a negotiating tactic to achieve other political gains, such as curbing illegal drugs. Others believe the U.S. could return to punitive, retaliatory tariffs in the all-out trade war that characterized Trump’s first term. “I’ve always said that a president, any president needs to be the chief educator, and (Franklin) Roosevelt was that during the Great Depression,” Buffett said at Berkshire’s 2018 annual meeting. “You have to be very good at teaching in an authentic way. Explain how it really hurts.
