"Bring our gold back from the United States immediately!" This title suddenly appeared in the German media Biography. Distrust in the Western world is intensifying.

According to data from the World Gold Association, Germany ranks second in the world in gold reserves, with a reserve of 3,375 tons, totaling 270,000 gold bars, each weighing 12.5 kilograms, second only to the United States. Of these reserves, nearly 37% of Germany's gold, about 1,236 tons, were entrusted to the United States, and stored in the Federal Reserve, worth about 100 billion euros and about 800.77 billion yuan.

The fuse may be related to tariffs for indiscriminate attacks. Trump's tariffs were introduced last week, and the EU was not spared and was facing a comprehensive tariff of 20% from the United States.

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According to German Biography, more and more evidence points to the trade war, and a debate that has already occurred has heated up again: Shouldn’t every bar in Germany’s gold reserves be stored in the German Central Bank’s vault in Frankfurt? Senior Conservatives who are about to lead the next German government have now discussed withdrawing gold from New York because they fear that Washington will no longer be a reliable partner.

On April 7, 2025, spot gold and COMEX gold both fell below the $3,000 mark at one point, and then rebounded. As of press time, spot gold was $3,030 per ounce, which was converted to RMB 701.5 per gram.

01 "Worrying that Washington is no longer a reliable partner"

The reason why we are eager to transport gold from the United States is because there is uncertainty over whether Germany can still rely on the United States under Trump's leadership, especially Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to gain more control over the Federal Reserve.

There is also debate about the security of the U.S. government's gold reserves, where Trump and Musk have publicly questioned whether the U.S. gold reserves are still in the place where they should be, which is said to be the most closely protected place in the world. However, after Musk made a statement in February to check the accounts of Fort Knox, no new news has been heard. This means that the U.S. government is not risking checking for its gold reserves at the moment.

Germany's wealth was acquired after World War II, when exports surged, resulting in a huge trade surplus with other countries, and these surpluses were exchanged for gold under the Bretton Woods system. Former German government minister Marco Vandwitz had previously lobbied to visit the U.S. gold reserves and inspected in person, but the request was rejected in 2012.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Germany has been influenced by Trump and has doubts about the gold reserves in the United States.

In 2017, shortly after Trump took office, Germany coincided with the shipment of 583 tons of gold in New York, USA and Paris, France. At that time, the German Central Bank board member Carl Ludwig said at a press conference: "President Trump has not yet sparked discussions about the New York Fed's gold reserve facilities." He expressed the concerns of central banks around the world, "If the new US president wants to confiscate the reserve gold stored in the United States, what should he do?"

According to CCTV News, Germany plans to withdraw 1,200 tons of gold this time. Some analysts pointed out that if Germany withdraws gold reserves from the United States, it means that the security and credibility of the Federal Reserve are questioned, which may trigger a chain reaction: as geopolitical tensions intensify, more countries will withdraw their gold reserves stored in the United States.

02 Are other countries following up?

In public information, there is no exact official data on the total amount of gold stored in the United States in the world. According to previous reports from People's Daily, in 2013, the New York vault contained gold nuggets from central banks and international organizations in more than 80 countries, which is estimated to account for about 30% of the total official gold reserves of countries around the world, and are piled up in more than 120 storage rooms respectively.

The reason why countries store gold in the United States is because the Bretton Woods system established a mechanism for linking the US dollar to gold. New York has become a global gold trading center. Gold transportation costs are high and risky, and centralized storage is convenient for international transactions and clearing. At the same time, it is also because the United States was previously regarded as a country with stable political and economic and sound financial infrastructure, and the risk of gold storage is low.

But now, the United States has frequently adjusted its trade policy in recent years, and geopolitical risks have intensified, which may cause countries represented by Germany to consider withdrawing gold, enhancing its crisis response capabilities, and reducing its dependence on the United States.

A 2023 survey by the World Gold Council showed that after the United States and other Western countries frozen nearly half of Russia's gold and foreign exchange reserves as "sanctions" measures, 68% of the central banks surveyed said they planned to keep their gold reserves in their home countries as safe-haven assets or simply to "ensure security", while in the 2020 survey, only 50% said they had such intentions.

At present, Germany is considering withdrawing its 1,200 tons of gold reserves in the United States. It is still unknown whether other countries will follow up.

However, returning to historical situations, in January 2013, the Federal Reserve repeatedly refused the German Central Bank to inspect the reserves of gold, giving the reason that "it may cause safety hazards and procedural issues to the vaults." In addition, as the European debt crisis intensifies, many Germans call for the transport of German gold reserves back to the country. The German Central Bank's request for "gold to go home" caused a lot of controversy, and many countries began to follow up. Coincidentally, in April that year, gold fell by nearly 15% in two trading days, and one trading day fell by 9.27%, the largest single-day drop in thirty years.

In 2014, Germany redeemed 120 tons of physical gold, and the Netherlands secretly redeemed 122 tons of gold, and then Austria became the third European "core" country to redeem gold from the New York Fed. By 2019, seven countries including Turkey, Hungary, Belgium, France, Venezuela, Switzerland, Italy, and other seven countries may have returned some or announced that they will transport back gold overseas such as the Federal Reserve or the Bank of England.

Time goes further. From March 2007 to November 2008, foreign central banks took away a total of 409 tons of gold from the New York Fed, and there were 20 out of 21 months to take away gold. Especially when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, the amount of gold taken out reached its peak. In September when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008, October when AIG was close to bankruptcy, and November when the Federal Reserve's bailout plan was introduced were both peaks in a single-month gold redemption.