QuestionerMy question is, how Donald Trump's tariffs affect the manufacturing business of Berkshire Hathaway?
WarrenWell, today, steel costs, we've seen steel costs increase somewhat, but as I said earlier, I don't think the United States or China, there'll be some jockeying back and forth, and there'll be something that leaves some people unhappy. But I don't think either country will dig themselves into something that precipitates and continues any kind of real trade war in this country. We've had that in the past a few times, and I think we've learned a general lesson on it. But there will be some things about our trade policies that irritate others, and there'll be some from others that irritate others. others that irritate us and they'll be some back and forth but in the end I don't think we'll come out with it with a terrible answer on it
WarrenCharlie on I'll let you
Charliesteel has it reached the conditions in steel were almost unbelievably adverse to the American steel industry you know even Donald Trump can be right on some of this stuff the the thing about trade I've always said that the president, whether it's president, any president, needs to be an educator in chief, which Roosevelt was in the Depression. That's why he had those fireside chats and it was very important that he communicated to the people what needed to be done and what was happening around them. And trade is particularly difficult because the benefits of trade are basically difficult because the benefits of trade are basically not visible. You don't know what you would be paying for the closure way or in today if we'd had a rule they all had to be manufactured in the United States or what you'd be paying for your television set or whatever maybe. No one thinks about the benefits day by day as they walk around buying things and carrying on their own business. The negatives, and there are negatives, are very apparent and very painful. And if you're laid off like happening, happened in our shoe business in Maine, and you know you have been a very, very, very good worker, you are proud of what you did, and maybe your parents did it before you, and all of a sudden you find out that American shoes, shoes manufactured in America, are not competitive with shoes made outside the United States. You know, you can talk all you know about Adam Smith or David Ricardo or something and explain the benefits of free trade and comparative advantage.
[3:29]
Warrenand all that sort of thing. And that doesn't make any difference. And if you're 55 or 60 years old to talk about retraining or something like that, you know, so what? So I, it is tough in politics where you have a hidden benefit and a very, a very visible cost to a certain percentage of your constituency. And you need to do two things under those circumstances if you have that situation. have that situation. You know what's good for the country. So you have to be very good at explaining how it does really hurt in a real way, somebody that works in a textile mill, like we had a new Bedford where you only spoke Portuguese, half our workers only spoke Portuguese, and suddenly they have no job, and they've been doing their job well for years. You've got to do two things. You can, you have to, you have to understand that that that's the prime. twice individuals pay for what's good for the collective good. And secondly, you've got to take care of the people that are, that we're retraining as a joke because of their age or whatever it may be. And you've got to take care of the people to become the rogue kill in something that is collectively good for us as a country.