Safe‑haven buying sends gold, silver to record highs after Trump EU tariffs warning

Gold and silver hit record highs on Monday, driven by a flight to safety after U.S. President Donald Trump warned of extra tariffs on some European countries in a dispute over Greenland.

Spot gold jumped 1.5% to $4,662.85 per ounce by 1121 GMT, after scaling an all-time high of $4,689.39.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery advanced 1.6% to $4,668 per ounce.

Trump threatened several European allies with a series of escalating tariffs on Saturday, unless the U.S. is allowed to buy Greenland, intensifying a dispute over Denmark's vast Arctic island.

"When institutional and policy risks resurface, markets tend to react swiftly by reallocating toward safe-haven assets, with gold once again emerging as the preferred choice," said Linh Tran, senior market analyst at XS.com.Stock markets and the dollar fell as Trump's latest tariff threats raised investors' appetite for safe-haven gold, the Japanese yen and Swiss franc, in a broad risk-averse move across markets.

Gold tends to do well during times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, as well as low-interest-rate environments. It gained more than 64% in 2025, and is up more than 8% since the start of this year.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said on Friday a fragile job market that could weaken quickly means the U.S. central bank should stand ready to cut interest rates again if needed.

Markets expect the Fed to leave rates on hold at its January 27-28 meeting, but are pricing in at least two 25-basis-point rate cuts this year.

Elsewhere, spot silver climbed 3.7% to $93.24, after hitting a record high of $94.08. The white metal has risen over 30% so far this year.

JP Morgan analysts said that they have a stronger preference for gold relative to silver. Any disruptive correction in the latter could have some near-term contagion into bullion, but still presents a buying opportunity in gold, which continues to have a cleaner, bullish structural story, they said.

In other precious metals, spot platinum added 1.2% to $2,355.96 per ounce, while palladium rose 0.7% to $1,811.55.