Trump or Clinton? Warren Buffett sees business as fine with either

A Donald Trump presidency wouldn’t be the blow to US business that some fear, according to Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

“If either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president, and one of them is very likely to be, I think Berkshire will continue to do fine,” Buffett, 85, said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The outcome of November’s presidential election is unlikely to change the fact that the US is a “remarkably attractive place in which to conduct a business,” said Buffett, who endorsed Democrat Clinton at an Omaha rally in December. US companies have enjoyed “terrific” returns on equity despite a sustained period of ultra-low interest rates, he added.

Trump and Clinton are their parties’ respective front-runners in a campaign that has exposed discontent with Washington insiders, anger over global trade deals, frustration with Wall Street and furor over the growing gap between rich and poor. At the same time, each candidate’s unfavourable rating exceeds 50 per cent, a historically high figure at this late stage in the primary season.

Buffett, who has criticised Trump in the past and scorned politicians’ pessimism about the country, looked past the current voter angst for a longer view of US economic prospects.

“Twenty years from now, there’ll be far more output per capita in the United States in real terms than there is now. In 50 years, it’ll be far more,” Buffett said. “No presidential candidate or president is going to end that. They can shape it in ways that are good or bad, but they can’t end it.”