WASHINGTON (Realist English). US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States would not impose tariffs on imported gold, easing fears of disruption in the global bullion trade.
“Gold will not be Tariffed!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, ending several days of market turbulence caused by a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ruling last week that outlined new duties on widely traded bullion bars.
Following his post, spot gold prices fell 1.2% to $3,357 per troy ounce in New York afternoon trading, while US gold futures dropped about 2.5% to $3,407. The benchmark Comex contract posted its steepest one-day decline in three months, closing down $86.60 at $3,404.70.
Trump’s intervention came after the Financial Times reported that the US would apply tariffs to one-kilo gold bars, a move that had sent US gold futures to a record intraday high of $3,534 per ounce. On Friday, the White House said it would issue an executive order “clarifying” its tariff plan for gold — a signal to the market that the measure might be altered or scrapped.
The CBP ruling caught traders off guard and drove an unusually wide premium of more than $100 between US futures and London spot prices, as banks, refiners and dealers rushed to secure metal for delivery. Switzerland — which refines about 70% of the world’s gold and ships much of it to the US — was seen as particularly vulnerable. The decision came shortly after Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter failed to secure a trade deal with Trump to ease broader US tariffs on Swiss goods.
The unexpected move marked the first time Washington had sought to levy duties on bullion, a commodity traditionally exempt from tariffs due to its central role in the financial system. It also appeared to contradict an April White House statement that gold would be excluded from sweeping trade measures.
Analysts warned that the episode could reshape global bullion flows and erode New York’s position as the world’s largest gold futures market.
