Warren Buffett calls for more free trade as path to prosperity

The United States would be better off, and safer, with a prosperous free-trade world than one where others are left behind, investor Warren Buffett said Saturday.Why it matters: Buffett, one of the world's richest people and most closely watched investors, has been a skeptic of trade deficits in the past but also a clear critic of President Trump's tariffs and other trade barriers. What he's saying: "There's no question that trade, trade can be an act of war. I think it's led to bad things. The attitudes it's brought out in the United States, 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 said at his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting Saturday."I do not think it's a great idea to try and design a world where a few a countries say 'hah hah hah, we've won' and other countries are envious."Zoom out: Berkshire, in its quarterly report Saturday morning, said it couldn't forecast the impact of tariffs on its own business — which ranges from insurance and energy to railroads and manufacturing — due to the ongoing trade uncertainty.Between the lines: The first question at Berkshire's annual meeting was about trade, and Buffett framed his response in terms of America's place in the world."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've got 300 million 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."I do think that the more prosperous the rest of the world becomes - it won't be at our expense - the more prosperous we'll become and the safer we'll feel and your children will feel someday."Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios VisualsThe intrigue: While financial markets have gyrated wildly since Trump's election last year, Berkshire has surged, handily outperforming most big stocks, markets and asset classes.Berkshire is up more than 21% since Nov. 5, while the S&P 500 is down almost 2%.This year's gap, if it held, would be its biggest outperformance since 2007.By the numbers: CNBC reported that shareholders requested a total of 138,000 tickets for Berkshire's annual meeting, up 10,000 from last year.It's considered the second-largest event of the year in the state by attendance, behind only the annual Nebraska-Oklahoma college football game.

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