'Repatriate the gold': German economists advise withdrawal from US vaults

[muriel_volestrangler]

Germany is facing calls to withdraw its billions of euros’ worth of gold from US vaults, spurred on by the shift in transatlantic relations and the unpredictability of Donald Trump.

Germany holds the world’s second biggest national gold reserves after the US, of which approximately €164bn (£122bn) worth – 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, called for the gold to be brought home, saying it was too “risky” for it to be kept in the US under the current administration.

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

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/24/repatriate-the-gold-german-economists-advise-withdrawal-from-us-vaults

[Bread and Circuses]

1. EUROPE - Get your Gold, Silver out of USA - and sell your bonds

[Old Crank]

2. Denmark is selling off their treasuries,

Swedens pension fund has unloaded 8.8 billion in bonds in the past year.

So it begins.

[DFW]

3. There have been such calls in Germany since Reagan

Germany kept their gold in New York to avoid a repeat of 1945, when the Russians emptied the Reichsbank of Germany’s hold, and has been selling it off in chunks ever since. When the So ch iet Union broke up, a rogue band of KGB officers realized the value of some of the rarer gold coins in their stash, and started marketing them in the west. They casually told their American marketing conduit, a firm in Florida, that “their children were already too old to see the end of the hoard.”

The Germans have been taking a long term assessment as to where their gold would be in greater danger of looting, New York or Frankfurt. In the Socialist era, they saw the Soviet empire as the greater threat, and left it in the USA. There is probably some serious re-assessing going on within the Bundesbank. Since a metric ton of gold is 1000 kilograms, Germany has 1.2 million kilos stored in New York. At $160,000 per kilo, that amounts to not only a healthy chuck of change, but a dream heist if transported somewhere. This was even the subject of one of the Die Hard movies. Since Trump is term limited and Russian leaders are not, I can see the reason to leave the stash where it is. They don’t need to move it to sell it.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Get it before TSF demands that the transfer be blocked

and claim ownership like Venezuelan oil.

Trump: Goldfinger 2026

[3Hotdogs]

8. I heard His Excellency say, there's a bathroom in Mer-a-Loco where the gold would probably be safe.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Hopefully Trump has not already stolen the gold reserves.

Quite possible he would find a way to do it.
And justify it by saying European fools deserve it for leaving it anywhere near him.
And Europe owes him the money.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Manufacture bling to hang on the walls

Would you like 24K? Or plate for those aspiring to wealth?

[Joinfortmill]

7. Jeezus, when is enough, enough? Stop this fucking menace. Just stop him. Now!