German lawmakers and advocacy groups are renewing calls for the country to repatriate gold reserves stored in New York, citing concerns about the Federal Reserve’s independence under President Donald Trump’s second term.
Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, holds the world’s second-largest gold reserves at 3,352 tons. One-third is stored at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a Cold War-era arrangement designed to protect the precious metal from potential Soviet invasion.
Earlier: German Lawmakers Call for Gold Stored in the US to Be Verified, Repatriated
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“Trump wants to control the Fed, which would also mean controlling the German gold reserves in the US,” said Michael Jaeger, vice-president of Germany’s Taxpayers Federation. “It’s our money, it should be brought back.”
The federation has sent letters to the Bundesbank and the Finance Ministry calling for repatriation of the US-stored gold. European Parliament member Markus Ferber said the United States was “no longer the reliable partner it used to be.”
“Trump is erratic and one cannot rule out that someday he will come up with creative ideas how to treat foreign gold reserves,” he told Reuters.
The Bundesbank has resisted calls for additional repatriation, saying the New York Fed remains “an important storage location” for German gold.
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“We have no doubt that in the New York Fed we have a trustworthy, reliable partner for the storage of our gold holdings,” the central bank said.
The Bundesbank conducts regular sample tests and has inspected 13% of its New York stock over recent years. The German Finance Ministry deferred questions to the central bank while stressing the Bundesbank’s independence.
Peter Boehringer, a lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party who originally pushed for gold repatriation, said public opinion has shifted dramatically.
“When I started asking about the gold, I was dismissed as a conspiracy theorist,” he said. “Today, after Trump, my concerns are shared widely.”
Fritz Guentzler, a Christian Democrat lawmaker, said he had no reason to mistrust the Fed but the Bundesbank should continue “regularly inspecting the stocks” of gold.
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