Trump’s Goldfinger Plan in England
By Jason Collins
Editor’s note: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. View more opinion on ScoonTV
In recent months, the Bank of England has experienced a gold rush, as thousands of bars of gold have been transported out of the country to U.S. Banks. The reason for this mass transportation of gold is a fear of a looming trade war under President Donald Trump’s administration and a growing price gap between England and New York.
Here’s everything you need to know about this big gold move.
Dropping Figures at the Bank of England
Deep underneath London’s Threadneedle Street are nine fortified vaults. These vaults hold the world’s second-largest gold depository, worth more than £200 billion ($252 billion). However, these vaults have been slowly emptying since November due to fears of a looming trade war.
According to the Independent, around 8,000 gold bars have been transported out of the bank, around 2% of their total amount. Transporting gold is no easy or cheap feat, either. It’s a three-part process involving transporting gold via secure vans, which is then sent to Swiss refiners to recast into different bar sizes according to Comex contracts. The bars are then loaded onto commercial flights to the U.S. According to NDTV World, U.S. bank JPMorgan delivered around $4 billion worth of gold in February.
With the price dropping in the UK and rising in the U.S., banks like JPMorgan and HSBC are shorting the price of gold and capitalizing on the opportunity.
The problem the European country is now facing is a shortage of gold supply, which has caused delays in delivery times. Instead of a few days, delivery is now taking between 4 and 8 weeks. While London may hold the second-largest gold depository, the U.S. is a major player in the global market with the highest gold reserves in the world ( 8,133 metric tons), which is around 77% of the world’s total gold reserves.
The Trigger?
So, what exactly caused this gold rush, and why is the U.S. transporting so much gold out of Europe?
In November, shortly after Trump entered office, he pledged to impose import tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Spoiler alert: He imposed tariffs, and Canada is not happy about it! Then, bullion worth $64.5 billion was delivered to the Comex gold stocks based in New York City. This drove the gold stocks up 126% to a record high, and analysts are predicting this rise will even reach highs of $3,000 a troy ounce.
To put this into perspective, on November 5, America’s gold inventory was sitting at $50 billion, and by February 17, it had more than doubled to $106 billion.
Trump then imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, which he hopes will aid struggling U.S. industries. However, it’s these tariffs that have started fears that President Trump is about to start a trade war and having a large gold reserve on his side could certainly provide some desirable protections.
Having a large reserve of gold on his side could help support his economic strategies by proving the dollar’s stability and reassuring investors that the U.S. remains a strong economic power even if Trump is implementing controversial trade policies. With trade wars comes inflation, especially on imported goods that Trump is targeting with his tariffs. Typically, countries with large gold reserves may have a better chance of surviving inflation. So, it makes sense that he’s building the gold reserves.
A Looming Global Trade War
Swift counter-measures from the European Union on Trump’s 25% steel and aluminum tariffs have made the threat of a global trade war seem even more likely. In April, the European Union said it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods. In true tit-for-tat mentality, Trump threatened to impose additional penalties if the EU follows through with its counter-tariffs. Trump told reporters at the White House, “Whatever they charge us, we’re charging them.”
In a rather unhinged post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump shared his reaction to one of the EU counter-tariffs, writing,
The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES.
Unlike some of the U.S. trade partners like Brazil and Australia, who have decided not to retaliate to Trump’s tariffs, Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-imported goods worth C$29.8 billion ($20 billion) starting April 2. The country is the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S.
Fears that a global trade war is simmering have resulted in growing concerns that the duties could push the world’s biggest economy into a recession. Alec Kersman, managing director and head of Asia-Pacific at Pimco, an investment management firm, revealed at a CNBC live event that there is a 35% probability of the U.S. entering a recession. In 2024, Pimco estimated that there was a 15% chance.
The combined threat of a trade war, a recession, and the added fear of Trump potentially adding tariffs on gold as well has traders and banks scrambling to move gold out of European banks.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a stark warning about these incoming tariffs from both sides: “They bring uncertainty for the economy. Jobs are at stake, prices will go up.”
The U.S. moving gold out of England appears to signal a strategic shift in its financial and geopolitical positioning, and for what? While the exact reason is still unclear, this move can be seen as a precautionary measure to safeguard the country’s assets and secure its economic resilience amid growing global economic uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariffs.
Throughout all of these trade tensions, one thing is clear: The financial world is bracing for economic warfare, and gold remains at the center of the storm as a symbol of economic resilience, investor sentiment, and stability. There are a lot of moving parts in the Trump administration’s trade policy. Some may view these as chaos, but if there is a unifying plan behind the gold and tariffs, when the full picture is finally revealed, Trump could have pulled off a scheme worthy of Goldfinger, the most famous of Bond villains.
Curtis Scoon is the founder of ScoonTv.com Download the ScoonTv App to join our weekly livestream every Tuesday @ 8pm EST!
