Apollo Global Management (APO) CEO Marc Rowan has a different take on tariffs than the Oracle of Omaha. (Disclosure: Yahoo Finance is owned by Apollo Global Management.)
“I don’t [agree with Warren Buffett on tariffs being a weapon],” Apollo Global Management chair, co-founder, and CEO Marc Rowan told Yahoo Finance at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday.
Buffett spoke out aggressively on tariffs at the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting over the weekend, calling them a “weapon.” The billionaire investor made a case for free trade.
“I think there are smart tariffs and there are stupid tariffs. Tariff is just a tool. A weapon gives it a political context or other things,” Rowan explained.
He added, “They [tariffs] will certainly cause an abrupt adjustment.”
Apollo’s first quarter results reflected the more volatile backdrop for risk assets.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Total fee-related revenue rose 16.6% from the year-ago period to $978 million, and adjusted earnings rose 8% to $1.85.
But the spread income Apollo earned from managing insurance assets clocked in at $804 million, slightly short of analyst estimates. Performance-based profits of $14 million were also shy of estimates as the market backdrop made it tougher to sell investments for profits.
The company said it put some $25 billion to work after the “Liberation Day” dislocations, mostly in public debt markets.
Rowan said on trends he’s seeing in Apollo’s vast portfolio of businesses, “We don’t think of our portfolio as a US-centric and, to a lesser extent, a European-centric portfolio. On balance, tariffs are kind of a nonissue. There are winners and losers across the portfolio. What we do see, though, is uncertainty. When you don’t know what the rules of the game are, you stop investing, you stop hiring, you stop making moves.”
Read more about what business leaders and top political figures are saying at the 2025 Milken Institute Global Conference:
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent aims to soothe nerves of international investors
Bessent talks tariffs: China is ‘biggest piece’ of trade puzzle
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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