Daniel Wolfram
A gold rush evacuation from the US to the UK is occurring.
The second Trump presidency has been unpredictable, to say the least.
Foes of the United States have been receiving praise and subtle invitations for new partnerships, while storied allegiances are being fractured daily.
A European country has seen the consequences of this and taken drastic measures to counter it while trying to prevent a huge economic loss.
Billions in gold from North America to the UK
The Dutch central bank (DNB) just removed almost half of its gold stored in North America and moved it to the United Kingdom.
In an unprecedented move, the DNB has moved 86 tons of gold from New York and Ottawa to the Bank of England in London, where the Dutch are more comfortable with the gold’s tradability due to “increasing geopolitical unrest,” referring to the trade war between the US and Canada.
“With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves. We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” said the president of the DNB, Olaf Sleijpen.
A gold rush exodus
The decision by the DNB comes after the increasingly hostile rhetoric in the ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States, where the two countries keep slapping tariffs on essential goods they are trading with each other.
There is also the Iran War component, where the US has been engaging in a war for the past six months, which has ultimately impacted global trade.
That mention of “geopolitical unrest” could be why the Netherlands felt the need to transport a large part of its gold across the Atlantic Ocean.
Selling in New York and buying in London
The Netherlands still holds 18.5% of its gold in New York and Ottawa, but especially New York saw a major decrease in its holdings of gold from the DNB as the share was 31.3% before the bank decided to move the gold to London.
The DNB announced in its statement that the relocation was executed by selling around 59 tons of gold in New York and then buying it back in London.
According to the DNB, its total gold holdings are around 612 tons, amounting to approximately $83.8 billion.
