President Trump’s second term as President is making European Union countries take stock of their gold reserve stored in US vaults. Countries in the European Union are being urged to repatriate their physical gold reserves from the US or to get them audited.
The Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE), in a statement, stated that the gold reserves of EU countries should be brought back to Europe from the USA. At the very least, a complete inventory and audit must be ensured. The return of national gold reserves does not necessarily mean the reserves must be stored in one’s own country. The important thing is to ensure unrestricted access to them.
EU countries like Germany and Italy store large portions of their national gold reserves in the USA. This has historical and monetary policy reasons.
In the statement, TAE talks about the reason why Germany and other EU nations should bring gold back – “US President Trump has repeatedly expressed his displeasure with the independence of the US Federal Reserve (FED), for example, when it comes to the pace of reduction of US interest rates.
He wants to align the FED more closely with the Oval Office. So what if countries want to repatriate their gold reserves, and this is deemed impermissible by the highest levels of the US?
In the past, it was also not possible to physically inspect the gold reserves stored in the USA. For example, members of the German Bundestag were denied direct inspection and control.”
Some of the world’s biggest gold owners, including the US, Germany, Italy, France, China, Switzerlan,d and India, hold their gold in Bank of England vaults and in vaults in New York, US. In 2024, India brought back over 200 metric tons of gold from London to India’s vault in two consignments.
The US and its allies had blocked around $300 billion worth of Russian foreign exchange assets, including gold, in 2023, which may have sparked concern among governments.
Germany has a total gold reserve of 3,351.53 tonnes, Italy has gold holdings of 2,451.84 tonnes, France has 2,437.00 tonnes and Switzerland has 1,039.94 tonnes of gold holdings. The highest gold reserve is held by the United States of America totalling 8,133.46 tonnes, according to World Gold Council data.
Of the total gold holdings of the US, nearly half is held in Fort Knox. The Treasury Department provides precise U.S. gold reserves information on its website, stating Fort Knox holds 147,341,858.382 troy ounces equal to approximately 4,000 tonnes. The audit of gold in Fort Knox is pending despite rising demand.
Data on how much of the gold of EU countries are held in New York or London vaults is not available. Some reports suggest that nearly half of Germany’s gold is kept in a vault 80 feet below street level, situated on the bedrock of Manhattan, at 33 Liberty St., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s headquarters.
Gold has long been a forex reserve asset for international banks. Recently, inflation and geopolitics have emerged as the two primary reasons for central banks to accumulate gold.
According to a recent European Central Bank report, gold has surpassed the Euro as the second-largest foreign exchange reserve asset held by central banks.
For three years in a row – 2022, 2023, and 2024 – central banks purchased more than 1,000 tonnes of gold per year, a significant rise from the previous decade’s average of 400-500 tonnes.
President Donald Trump’s frequent attacks on the US Federal Reserve and growing global unrest have prompted calls for Germany and Italy to remove their gold from New York.