Gold Price Continues to Climb, Reaching New Record
The gold price has been on a roll this week, reaching a new record high. After trading as low as US$3,006 per ounce on Monday (March 24), the yellow metal surged, closing at US$3,085 on Friday (March 28).
What’s Driving the Gold Price?
Many experts agree that the precious metal is benefiting from long-term underlying drivers, such as central bank buying, as well as recent turmoil surrounding tariffs, the US economy, and global conflicts. One of the key factors influencing the gold price is the ongoing trade tensions between the US and other countries. The US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose 25 percent tariffs on all automobile imports starting on April 3. This move has sparked concerns about the potential impact on the global economy and the value of the dollar.
Will Gold Face Tariffs?
According to Dana Samuelson of American Gold Exchange, it’s unlikely that gold will face tariffs. He explained, "My opinion is that it doesn’t make sense to tariff gold because it is a tier-one asset — it’s equivalent to a Treasury. So they’re not going to tariff Treasuries, right? The commodity uses for gold are about 5 percent compared to 95 percent being a monetary metal. So I don’t think it makes sense to tariff gold." On the other hand, silver, which has strong industrial applications, could face tariffs.
Copper Prices on the Rise
Copper is another story entirely. Trump previously ordered the Department of Commerce to investigate copper tariffs, and while it was supposed to provide a report within 270 days, sources now indicate it could come sooner. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the investigation "is looking like little more than a formality," and the news has bolstered prices for the red metal. Copper futures on the Comex in New York rose to an all-time high this week, although London copper prices declined, creating a larger spread between the two.
Fed Rate Cuts and the Economy
The US Federal Reserve meeting last week saw the central bank leave rates unchanged. While officials are still calling for only two cuts this year, Danielle DiMartino Booth of QI Research thinks the Fed could cut as many as four to five times in 2025. She stated, "I do see the pace of layoffs and bankruptcies in the US economy as probably (putting) the Fed in a tight position going into May. We’ve got two nonfarm payroll reports before they meet on May 7, and I think that because the unemployment rate is just a rounding error shy of being at 4.2 percent, that there is a risk — a very tangible risk given, again, all of the layoffs, store closures that we’ve seen in 2025 — in economic fallout, not just in the public sector, but more so in the private sector."
Silver Squeeze 2.0
Silver is also making headlines as social media users plan a "silver squeeze 2.0" for this coming Monday (March 31). The movement is similar to the 2021 silver squeeze, when members of Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum tried to squeeze the market like they did for GameStop (NYSE:GME). The current push seems to have originated on X, formerly Twitter, where it’s quickly gained traction among key players in the silver community. The white metal’s price has already risen to the US$34.50 per ounce level on Thursday (March 27), although it had pulled back to around US$34.10 by Friday’s close.
Conclusion
The gold price continues to climb, reaching a new record high. The yellow metal is benefiting from long-term underlying drivers, such as central bank buying, as well as recent turmoil surrounding tariffs, the US economy, and global conflicts. While tariffs are unlikely to be imposed on gold, silver may face tariffs due to its strong industrial applications. The upcoming "silver squeeze 2.0" event could also impact the price of silver in the coming week.
