Trump's gold tariff U-turn latest sign of shoot-first-ask-questions-later policymaking
Prices of gold futures rose sharply on Friday following the FT report that indicated gold bars imported into the US from Switzerland would attract the designated tariff of 39 per cent. This is crucial since Switzerland is the world's biggest refiner of the yellow metal, with gold exports in 2024 exceeding $100 billion. For the US, Swiss gold ranks first in terms of imports.
However, relations between Switzerland and the US have been rather frigid over their trade balance. In 2024, Switzerland's exports to the US stood at $63.33 billion, resulting in a surplus of $38.28 billion for the European country — more than 50 per cent higher than the 2023 surplus of $24.53 billion.
But the surplus for Switzerland has jumped more sharply in 2025, ballooning to $47.83 billion in just the first six months, as per US Census Bureau data, on the back of US' imports soaring to $75.87 billion — 216 per cent higher from the first half of 2024. Why? Because of Trump.
The US President's threat of reciprocal tariffs starting April led to an eye-watering increase in the import of gold from Switzerland in the first three months of 2025. From January to March, a total of $62.32 billion worth of goods was imported by the US from Switzerland, resulting in a trade deficit of $54.27 billion. In the subsequent three months, the US has enjoyed a minor trade surplus of just over $2 billion on average. In the year ended June, Switzerland's gold exports to the US stood at just over $61 billion.
Shoot first, question later
The sharp increase in gold prices prompted action from the Trump administration, with the White House saying on August 8 that it would clarify 'misinformation' about tariffs on gold bars, prompting futures prices to cool down.
Misinformation, however, may not be the best characterisation of developments. The US Customs and Border Protection's comments on July 31, seen by The Indian Express, came after New York-based MTB Metals — a subsidiary of Swiss precious metals refining and trading firm MKS PAMP — sought a tariff classification ruling.
As has been reported elsewhere, Trump's Liberation Day tariffs of April 2 contained several exemptions, including a category of bullion. This category was understood to also cover large gold bars. It was thought that precious metals remelted by Swiss refineries and exported to the US could be shipped tariff-free, the FT reported, citing Christoph Wild, president of the Swiss Association of Manufacturers and Traders of Precious Metals. 'However, the custom code classification for different gold products is not always precise,' Wild said, with the FT adding it had been told by two refineries that they had temporarily reduced or halted exporting to the US due to the uncertainty.
As it turns out, the US CBP's July 31 ruling to MTB Metals' query was as follows: the company wanted 1 kg and 100-ounce gold bars to come under the 7108.12.10 classification code as unwrought non-monetary gold bullion or dore. However, the CBP argued these bars could not fall under the said category as they were not 'unwrought' — they had been 'cast and have been stamped and needled or lasered with identifying information, and thus have been further processed'.
As it turns out, the 7108.12.10 classification code sought by MTB Metals for the said gold bars was the only one related to gold that was exempt from import duties in the April 2 Liberation Day order. The problem, therefore, was not with the CBP's ruling, but the exemption order — it was not comprehensive enough.
A similar casualty of the Trump administration playing fast and loose with trade policy has been Japan, which found to its surprise that while the European Union's trade agreement with the US had a 'no stacking' provision — this meant that the 15 per cent tariff on EU goods was the maximum — there was no such clause in the order on the 15 per cent deal struck between Tokyo and Washington. While the issue has since been smoothed over, it's the perfect illustration — like with the gold tariff reversal — of Trump's policy-making process: headlines first, details later.
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