On the global economic stage today, a storm caused by tariff tensions and uncertainty is quietly brewing, posing a serious threat to economic growth in the eurozone. The European Central Bank is facing unprecedented pressure, and the market generally expects it to cut interest rates for the third time this year to cope with this complex situation.

US President Trump recently signed an order to investigate tariffs on key minerals, marking a further escalation of his trade war strategy. This move not only triggered a chain reaction in the global economy, but also exacerbated the decoupling of the traditional relationship between the US dollar and US Treasury yields, while driving a historic rise in gold prices.

On April 15, 2025, US President Trump signed an executive order to officially launch a national security risk investigation into key minerals and their processed products that the United States relies on imports, in accordance with Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This measure is seen as the latest move by the Trump administration to expand the trade war, targeting strategic resource supply chains such as rare earths and uranium, sparking strong concerns in the global market about “key mineral tariffs”. As a result, in the morning session of the Asian market on April 16th, spot gold broke through 3290 US dollars per ounce, reaching a high of 3298.26 US dollars per ounce, continuing to hit a historical high. Domestic gold jewelry prices also rose to 1007 yuan per gram, and the net inflow of gold ETFs exceeded 1.5 billion yuan per day, highlighting the market’s demand for hedging against policy uncertainty.

On April 14, 2025, US President Trump once again bombarded Ukrainian President Zelensky during his meeting with Salvadoran President Boukel at the White House, calling him “reckless in provoking war” and “ungrateful” for US aid. 

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the “2025 National Trade Estimate Report” today, providing detailed guidelines for the “no discrimination, no reciprocity” policy that will take effect on April 2nd. The report system has sorted out over 5000 tariff and non-tariff barriers for goods from 186 countries and regions, and clearly stated that countermeasures will be implemented against “unfair trade practices” such as Canadian dairy management and EU agricultural product approval. Affected by this, the international gold price broke through $3148.94 per ounce in early trading, reaching a historic high, with a year-on-year increase of 19%. Silver also strengthened to $34.5 per ounce. But there was a fluctuation in the afternoon, fluctuating around 3130.

Recently, the global financial market has shown a complex and changing situation under the intertwined influence of trade tensions and economic uncertainty, and the price of gold has continued to rise against this background, becoming the focus of the market. On Friday, spot gold continued to rise in the European session and successfully stood at $ 3,080 /ounce, breaking the historical record again. New York gold futures also stood at $3,100/ounce.