XAU/USD: Gold on Cusp of Record as Trump Eyes 25% Tariffs on Auto. Is Bullion Next?

🧈 Gold Nears All-Time High

• Gold prices XAUUSD almost hit a fresh all-time high Wednesday morning. The precious metal advanced to a session peak of $2,939 per ounce, just $3 shy of the ultimate record of $2,942 hit earlier this month.
• What’s behind the surge? Consistent anxiety over whether bullion is next in line for looming tariffs coming out of the US. Trump’s tariff plan has been expanding slowly to cover more and more items on their way into America.

🎁 Tariffs Keep Rolling In

• The latest items to get slapped with a tariff are cars, drugs and chips. Donald Trump late on Tuesday said that these three will get a 25% tax treatment on the border with cars being the first to feel the impact, effective April 2. Tariffs on drugs and chips will get rolled out at a later stage.
• Gold has been seeing elevated investor appetite as Trump’s tariff dramas have triggered panic buying from central banks, exchange-traded funds and, most of all, the main US marketplace for trading metals, Comex.

🛩️ Gold Flying Over the Atlantic

• Over $100 billion worth of gold bars are now stacked up on Comex as hurried gold dealers are busy flying as much as they can from London. But the process is far from easy — they first need to send it to a refinery in Switzerland so it could be compliant with Comex standards.
• Analysts, meanwhile, are all the more bullish on the yellow metal. Goldman Sachs strategists are calling for $3,000-an-ounce gold prices still this year — a forecast that could materialize sooner than later.