- Warren Buffett warned that tariffs ultimately lead to inflation, emphasizing that consumers as well as foreign businesses bear the cost. While the Trump administration claims tariffs won’t impact Americans, rising prices and economic concerns suggest otherwise, with even the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) acknowledging their inflationary effects.
While Warren Buffett notably stays out of the political melee, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO has passed comment on tariff hikes—a policy being pursued by the current Trump administration.
Buffett, who generally refrains from sharing specifics on his economic outlook, issued something of a wake-up call to consumers who might consider the import tariffs impacting overseas businesses rather than their own purse strings.
“Tariffs are actually—we’ve had a lot of experience with them. They’re an act of war, to some degree,” Buffett told CBS in an interview released Sunday.
Speaking on tariffs generally, as opposed to the specific policies outlined by Trump, Buffett added that, ultimately, consumers will face inflation.
“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ‘em,” the man worth $161 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index continued. “And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say: ‘And then what?’”
The “what” does not entail prices coming down, Buffett added: “Prices will be higher 10 years from now, in 20 years from now.”
On the question of economics, however, the Oracle of Omaha is all too aware of the influence he has over markets.
“Well, I think that’s the most interesting subject in the world, but I won’t talk, I can’t talk about it, though. I really can’t,” Buffett added.
The man who took control of Berkshire in the mid-’60s was also restrained in commentary about the White House’s actions since President Trump returned to the Oval Office.
“Washington is Washington,” Buffett responded when asked about the current political landscape. “The problem with politics is that you tend to have to make tiny compromises as you go along.”
He added he had talked to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) boss Elon Musk “a couple of times” though didn’t specify if it was in relation to his work as a special government employee or as CEO of companies like Tesla and SpaceX.
Do tariffs mean inflation?
That tariffs will lead to inflation is a potential outcome consumers are increasingly being forced to wake up to—an unattractive prospect given the resilience they had to maintain in the midst of high prices and high Fed interest rates to bring inflation down.
As early as January, before the fuller extent of the Trump administration’s policy intentions became clearer, the Jerome Powell–led Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was concerned by the inflationary impact of tariffs.
Notes from the first FOMC meeting of the year read: “Business contacts in a number of districts had indicated that firms would attempt to pass on to consumers higher input costs arising from potential tariffs.”
Key figures in the Trump cabinet are already claiming the opposite. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said tariffs on China, for example, would be “eaten” by the nation instead of passed back to U.S. consumers.
But with tariffs soon to be expected for Canada and Mexico as well, the “path dependent” outcome—as Bessent calls it—could be higher prices.
With egg prices soaring to record highs and consumer price index (CPI) data coming in hotter than expected, even the man in the Oval Office has had to admit that inflation is back—but he did blame the Biden administration.
