Wall Street’s Golden Airlift Takes Flight As Trump Tariffs Spark London Meltdown
Gold’s 2025 winning streak isn’t just breaking records — it’s breaking airlines’ cargo holds. As bullion notches its seventh consecutive weekly gain, Trump’s sweeping tariff threats have triggered a modern-day gold rush — emptying the Bank of England’s vaults as Wall Street flies billions in gold bars on-shore.
- “When trade contracts, gold takes off,” says an HSBC analyst, with the haven asset surging 7% since the inauguration — eclipsing the S&P 500’s ~2% gain and other “Trump Trades,” like USD, bitcoin, and Treasuries, which have largely backfired so far.
- Beyond tariff jitters, gold’s appeal as a geopolitical and inflation hedge has intensified — with strong buying from central banks amid “chaos across the globe” and accelerating de-dollarization trends (FT).
Golden twist: Banks like JPMorgan and HSBC had previously hedged themselves by selling futures contracts — expecting London and New York exchanges to continue moving in sync. When Trump’s tariff threats sparked a $20 price gap between markets, Wall Street found it cheaper to fly physical gold from London than take losses on the contracts, creating an eight-week queue at the Bank of England. Turns out moving mountains of gold is easier than fixing a futures bet gone wrong.
