Buffett's investment in US stocks has become increasingly cautious over the past year.

Last week, US President Trump announced that a 25% comprehensive tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada will take effect on March 4. Previously, he had also stated that "reciprocal tariffs" would be imposed on all US trading partners.

On March 2, local time, "stock god" Buffett rarely criticized Trump's tariffs. He said that punitive tariffs could trigger inflation and harm consumer interests. "In fact, we have a lot of experience with tariffs, and to some extent tariffs are an act of war." He said, "In the long run, tariffs are actually commodity taxes." Buffett also used the metaphor of the "tooth fairy" to emphasize that tariffs will not be paid by mysterious kind people, but will ultimately be paid by American consumers.

However, Buffett also said, "Most of the funds I manage will always be invested in the United States... because this is the best (investment) place in the world."

That being said, Buffett's investment in U.S. stocks has become increasingly cautious over the past year.

The Berkshire Hathaway's fourth-quarter 2024 equity holdings report released earlier in February showed that the company sold about $6 billion in net stocks in the quarter. In the previous three quarters, Berkshire also sold about $127 billion in stocks, most of which were Apple stocks. Specifically, Berkshire sold about $5 billion of Bank of America shares in the fourth quarter of last year and cleared about $3 billion of Citigroup shares, leaving only about $1 billion of Citigroup shares. This is the company's ninth consecutive quarter of selling stocks. A year ago, Berkshire held almost twice as many stocks as U.S. Treasury bonds. The financial report also showed that while the company continued to reduce its stock holdings, its cash reserves reached a record $334.2 billion, almost double the same period last year, accounting for 53% of the company's net assets.

After another sharp drop last week, the S&P 500 index has only gained about 1% so far this year, mainly due to market concerns about an economic slowdown, uncertainty about Trump's policies and valuation issues in the U.S. stock market. According to the so-called "Buffett indicator", which compares the value of the U.S. stock market to the size of the annual U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), U.S. stocks have never been as expensive as they are now.