Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel & Sec. Lutnick Blames Canada 9/2/26

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**SPEAKER_3** (0:59)
Bring in show music, please.

**Katie Kramer** (1:03)
Hi, I'm CNBC producer Katie Kramer. Today on Squawk Pod.
Two big interviews you don't want to miss. Up first, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel joins from Japan, where the conglomerate's nearly $400 billion portfolio includes big stakes in the historic trading houses there.

**Greg Abel** (1:21)
It was really a long-term proposition that we saw this as a long-term holding.

**Katie Kramer** (1:26)
And he lets us in a little on the surprising shift, Berkshire's new investment in Alphabet.

**Greg Abel** (1:32)
I called Warren and I said, we had a significant opportunity to invest in, continue to invest in Google, but with a significant block.

**Katie Kramer** (1:41)
Then a newsmaking interview with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick from the G20 Innovation Summit. When it comes to the breakdown in trade talks between the US and our neighbor to the north, he says, blame Canada.

**Howard Lutnick** (1:52)
Friday at 4 o'clock, the Canadians call and say, they start adding crazy ideas to the mix.
And we said, what are you doing? And I said to one of the ministers, are you actually trying to blow this up? And his answer to me was, I'm not allowed to say that. And they blew it up for political reasons only.

**Katie Kramer** (2:14)
It's Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026 A supersized Squawk Pod begins right now.

**SPEAKER_7** (2:21)
Stand Becky by in three, two, one, cue please.

**Becky Quick** (2:26)
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on CNBC. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Joe Kernen. Andrew is out today. Energy prices are higher. If you want to take a look right now, you'll see the WTI is trading at $90, 43 cents a barrel. Brent is actually above $95 a barrel at 9508 And then Treasury yields rising not only here but across the globe. A lot of concerns that those higher oil prices are going to lead to situations where central banks have to actually raise rates to fight inflation. What you're watching this morning with the 10-year is a yield of 4.812%. That is the highest level we've seen for that yield in close to three years. November of 2023 was the last time we saw levels like this. At that point, it was 4.935%.
The 30-year this morning is at 5.28. The two-year is at 4.40. And again, these expectations are getting built into the market that rates will have to rise not only here in the US but around the globe. If you were watching the Japanese 30-year, it is at its highest level in 30 years this morning in terms of what we've been seeing there too.

**Joe Kernen** (3:33)
And year after year, to me, it's strange that negatives for the market seem to build up seasonally, just by coincidence, in late August and early September. And like clockwork yesterday, September 1st, big 300-plus point declines in the NASDAQ and the Dow, leading us into later September, leading us into October. October, the horrible October. There's no doubt that seasonally, it's just kind of interesting the way that happens. We've had so many sort of sickening September markets.
It also reminds me back, harking back to Tom Lee, who thinks he's bullish, looks at earnings, looks at all these things, thinks we end above 8,000 on the S&P for the year.

**Becky Quick** (4:21)
But it's not a straight shot up.

**Joe Kernen** (4:23)
Interrupted by a 10 to 15% drawdown. Now, I'm not a smart man, but we got like three months left.

**Becky Quick** (4:31)
We got some major volatility if that plays out.

**Joe Kernen** (4:33)
And if you're like, oh, well, it's going to be a 10 or 15% correction. We just sit back and maybe we buy it. It doesn't work that way. It makes you think, no, this is more than a garden variety correction. So I don't feel like going through this gut wrenching sell off.