Gold Futures Soar to Record High after President Trump's Surprise Tariff on Imported Gold Bars

US gold futures briefly surged to an all-time high on Friday after President Donald Trump’s administration blindsided the global bullion market with a move to impose tariffs on imports of one-kilogram and 100-ounce gold bars.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) clarified in a July 31 ruling, reported by the Financial Times, that these bars are subject to the “reciprocal tariffs” enacted by President Trump, shattering industry expectations of an exemption. The decision overturned long-standing market assumptions and immediately roiled the precious metals trade.

Gold futures on New York’s Comex, which are backed by these bar sizes, jumped to a record intraday high of $3,534 per ounce before slipping back below $3,500, ending the session with a narrower gain of about 1%.

The CBP said the bars fall under customs code 7108.13.5500, which classifies them as “semi-manufactured” rather than “unwrought” gold, and therefore not covered by the tariff exemptions listed in an April 2 White House factsheet. That document had stated “bullion” was exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, reinforcing earlier industry confidence that such bars would be spared.

“This is precisely what the market feared,” said Joni Teves, strategist at UBS AG. “Until there is clarity, we expect the gold market and precious metals markets more generally to remain very nervous.”

The ruling has far-reaching implications for global bullion flows. Switzerland plays a crucial role in refining and reshaping gold bars to meet the specifications of various markets. If London and New York prices move out of sync, Swiss refiners can melt down larger 400-ounce bars traded in London into one-kilo bars for delivery against US futures contracts, and vice versa. The new tariffs threaten to upend that system.

The move has already prompted some Asian refiners to pause shipments to the US until the tariff situation becomes clearer. With US refining capacity limited, analysts warn that the higher costs could undermine the viability of Comex gold contracts as the global benchmark for hedging.

Market participants had anticipated a small risk of tariffs and stockpiled large quantities of gold in US warehouses earlier this year, helping to cushion the immediate price reaction. “The price moves today would have been so much more violent if banks and other financial institutions had not moved so much gold into the US over the past eight months,” said John Reade, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council.