German economists urge withdrawal of gold reserves from US amid transatlantic tensions

Germany is facing renewed calls to withdraw billions of euros’ worth of its gold reserves from vaults in the United States, amid concerns over shifting transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s decisions.

Germany holds the world’s second-largest national gold reserves after the United States. Of its total holdings, approximately €164 billion ($194 billion), or 1,236 tonnes, is stored in New York.

Emanuel Mönch, a leading economist and former head of research at Germany’s federal bank, the Bundesbank, was cited by The Guardian on Saturday as urging that the gold be brought back to Germany, saying it as too “risky” to keep it in the US under the current administration.

“Given the current geopolitical situation, it seems risky to store so much gold in the US,” Mönch told 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.”

Stefan Kornelius, spokesperson for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition government, said recently that withdrawal of the gold reserves was not currently under consideration.

Mönch is the latest in a series of economists and financial experts to argue that repatriation would align with Germany’s recent push for greater strategic independence from the United States.

Michael Jäger, head of the European Taxpayers Association (TAE) and the Association of German Taxpayers, also called for Berlin to act, citing the US’s stated desire to seize Greenland.

“Trump is unpredictable and he does everything to generate revenue. That’s why our gold is no longer safe in the Fed’s vaults,” Jäger told the Rheinische Post, a regional daily newspaper headquartered in Düsseldorf. “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.”

Jäger said he wrote last year to the Bundesbank and the finance ministry, urging them to “bring our gold home.”

Until recently, the issue of Germany’s overseas gold holdings had largely been championed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has repeatedly demanded the return of the gold for “patriotic” reasons. The debate has now increasingly entered mainstream political discourse.

Katharina Beck, finance spokesperson for the opposition Greens in the Bundestag, also voiced support for relocating the gold bars, calling them an “important anchor of stability and trust” that “must not become pawns in geopolitical disputes.”

However, Clemens Fuest, president of the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo), warned against such a move. It could have unintended consequences and would “only pour oil on the fire of the current situation,” he told the Rheinische Post.

Germany’s total gold reserves are valued at almost €450 billion ($534 billion). Just over half are held at the Bundesbank in Frankfurt am Main, 37 percent in the vaults of the US Federal Reserve in New York, and 12 percent at the Bank of England in London, the global center of gold trading. The Bundesbank says it regularly audits the gold it holds in storage.

Speaking last October at the International Monetary Fund’s fall meetings in Washington, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said there was “no cause for concern” over the German gold stored at the US Federal Reserve.

Frauke Heiligenstadt, parliamentary group spokesperson on financial policy for the Social Democrats, the junior partners in the government, said that while she understood concerns about the reserves, there was no need for panic.

“Germany’s gold reserves are well diversified,” she said. With half located in Frankfurt, “our ability to act is guaranteed.” Holding gold in New York made sense, she added, because “Germany, Europe and the US are closely linked in terms of financial policy.”

Despite those assurances, an increasing number of members of Merz’s Christian Democrats have been speaking out in favor of relocation amid Trump’s hardening rhetoric towards Western partners.

“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.

The remarks came amid Trump’s escalating rhetoric and unilateral measures targeting numerous nations worldwide, including the US’s own allies.

The US president had earlier threatened tariffs against eight European nations if they resisted his bid to seize Greenland before saying he sought the island “including right, title, and ownership” without using force. Washington has long claimed that the semiautonomous territory is “vital for the defense of its mainland.”

The tariff onslaught has also been used by the Trump administration against many other major states.

Trump’s second tenure has additionally featured significant American military buildup around the globe, which was recently followed by US forces’ kidnapping Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on “drug-related” charges.

Ever since the abduction, the US president has called on major American oil companies to exploit Venezuela’s immense crude reserves, besides menacing other Latin American nations with illegal military aggression.

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