The price of gold and silver have hit record highs as investors turned to safe haven assets, after US president Donald Trump threatened to impose extra tariffs on eight European countries in his increasingly aggressive bid to claim Greenland.
The price of gold rose by 1.6% to $4,666 per ounce on Monday morning, having hit an all-time high of $4,689. US gold futures for February advanced 1.7% to $4,671.90.
The price of silver hit a record high of $94.08 an ounce, before easing to $93.15, up 3.6%.
Stock markets in London and Europe were expected to fall on opening on Monday.
On Saturday, Trump threatened a 25% tariff on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland until the US is allowed to purchase Greenland, in an extraordinary escalation of the president’s bid to claim the autonomous Danish territory.
In a lengthy post on Saturday on Truth Social, Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff beginning 1 February “on any and all goods sent to the United States of America”. He said the tariff will increase to 25% on 1 June.
“This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” Trump said.
The move pushed the dollar down by 4% against safe-haven currencies the Swiss franc and by 0.2% against the Japanese yen.
EU ambassadors are preparing retaliatory measures should Trump follow through with his threat of increased tariffs.
“With Trump throwing tariffs into the mix, it is clear that his threat to Greenland is real,” said Matt Simpson, a senior analyst at StoneX. “Geopolitical tensions have given the gold bulls yet another reason to push it to new highs.”