Germany is facing renewed calls to repatriate billions of euros worth of its gold reserves from the United States, driven by strains in transatlantic relations and concerns over the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump.
According to a Guardian report, Germany holds the world’s second-largest national gold reserves after the United States, with about €164 billion (£142 billion), or 1,236 tonnes, stored in vaults in New York.
Emanuel Monch, a prominent economist and former head of research at Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has urged that the gold be brought back to Germany, arguing that keeping it in the United States has become too “risky” under the current administration.
“Given the current geopolitical situation, it seems risky to store so much gold in the US,” The Guardian quoted him as telling the financial newspaper Handelsblatt.
“In the interest of greater strategic independence from the US, the Bundesbank would therefore be well advised to consider repatriating the gold,” Monch added.
Stefan Kornelius, spokesperson for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government, said recently that withdrawing Germany’s gold reserves from the United States is not currently under consideration.
However, Monch is the latest in a growing group of economists and financial experts arguing that repatriation would align with Germany’s push for greater strategic independence from Washington in recent months.
Michael Jager, head of both the European Taxpayers Association and the Association of German Taxpayers, has also urged Berlin to act, saying the United States’ stated interest in seizing Greenland should sharpen concerns about relying on US custodianship.
“Trump is unpredictable and he does everything to generate revenue. That’s why our gold is no longer safe in the Fed’s vaults,” Jager told the Rheinische Post.
“What happens if the Greenland provocation continues? … The risk is increasing that the German Bundesbank will no longer be able to access its gold. Therefore, it should repatriate its reserves,” Jager added.
Jager said he wrote last year to the Bundesbank and the finance ministry urging them to “bring our gold home”.
Until recently, calls to repatriate Germany’s gold were largely confined to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which framed the issue in patriotic terms. The debate has since moved into the political mainstream.
Katharina Beck, finance spokesperson for the opposition Greens in the Bundestag, has backed relocating the reserves, describing them as an “important anchor of stability and trust” that “must not become pawns in geopolitical disputes”.
Calls for caution
Others have urged caution. Clemens Fuest, president of the Ifo Institute, warned that such a move could trigger unintended consequences and would “only pour oil on the fire of the current situation”, he told the Rheinische Post.
Germany’s gold reserves are valued at nearly €450 billion. Just over half are held at the Bundesbank in Frankfurt, 37% at the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York and 12% at the Bank of England in London. The Bundesbank says it regularly audits its gold holdings.
Speaking at the International Monetary Fund’s autumn meetings in Washington last October, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said there was “no cause for concern” over the gold stored in New York.
Frauke Heiligenstadt, financial policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats, junior partners in the coalition government, said there was no need for alarm.
“Germany’s gold reserves are well diversified,” she said, adding that with half held in Frankfurt, “our ability to act is guaranteed”. Keeping gold in New York also made sense, she said, as “Germany, Europe and the US are closely linked in terms of financial policy”.
However, as US rhetoric towards its allies hardens under Trump, more members of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats have voiced support for relocation.
“Due to the Trump administration, the US is no longer a reliable partner,” Ulrike Neyer, a professor of economics at the University of Düsseldorf, told the Rheinische Post.
With inputs from agencies
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