The Daily Populous Saturday June 28th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by mining.com and submitted by blairb03

Germany and Italy are facing mounting pressure to repatriate a combined $245 billion worth of gold stored in the Federal Reserve vaults of New York, the Financial Times reported this week.

According to FT, politicians and taxpayer advocacy groups in Europe have voiced deep concerns over the safety of their gold following verbal attacks by US President Donald Trump on the Federal Reserve. Storing bullion abroad can expose Europe’s financial sovereignty to unnecessary risk, they said.

Germany and Italy currently hold the world’s second and third-largest gold reserves at 3,352 tonnes and 2,452 tonnes, respectively. The US, meanwhile, is by far the largest holder at 8,133 tonnes.

Leading the push is Fabio De Masi, a former member of the European Parliament and now affiliated with Germany’s new left-wing populist BSW party. Speaking to FT, De Masi said there are “strong arguments” to bring more of Germany’s bullion back home.

Germany began storing a significant portion of its gold reserves in the US during the post-WW2 economic boom. As of today, about a third of its gold (1,200 tonnes) remains with the New York Federal Reserve in Manhattan.

Earlier this year, German newspaper Bild reported that a number of senior figures within the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party have discussed the possibility of pulling its gold stockpile out of the US under the current political climate.

The Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE) shared similar concerns, with its president Michael Jäger urging Germany’s finance ministry and central bank (and those of Italy) to reduce their dependency on the Federal Reserve.

“Trump wants to control the Fed, which would also mean controlling the German gold reserves in the US,” Jäger said in a Reuters interview. “It’s our money, it should be brought back.”

In Italy, economic commentator Enrico Grazzini recently warned in the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano that “leaving 43% of Italy’s gold reserves in America under the unreliable Trump administration is very dangerous for the national interest.”

Since returning to office, Trump has repeatedly voiced strong — and sometimes aggressive — criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. This, according to the TAE, undermines its confidence in the US central bank’s independence, and the status of Europe’s gold going forward.

barkingcat on June 28th, 2025 at 05:10 UTC »

Insider threat would be more of an issue.

The last gold heist was at YYZ where it was an inside job: the thieves presented valid documentation and legit looking waybill and carted away the gold from the hanger where it was being stored right after offloading from the plane.

The owning bank should have had an escort watching the gold continuously, but they were cheap and relied on conventional security.

Yuukiko_ on June 28th, 2025 at 03:35 UTC »

what's the chance Trump's going to call it "our gold" or "my gold"

Voaracious on June 28th, 2025 at 03:26 UTC »

If you guys do take all that gold back better put a military convo around whatever ships are transporting it.