The central bank of the Netherlands announced that it would transfer its gold reserves out of the United States and into a foreign jurisdiction. The move was made under the rationale of “political instability” and follows a trend among major European central banks to take similar steps; France and Germany have already relocated their gold holdings to New York, so this is not the first instance.
The U.S. Treasury market also feels the ripples of change. While Norway’s sovereign wealth fund was proposing to cut its holdings in U.S. Treasury securities from about 70 % to 50 %, the price of U.S. Treasury bonds has risen together with an increase in gold prices. Since 2022, the price of gold has surged sharply, reaching nearly US$5,600, a sign that global financial markets are shifting their safety‑asset preferences.
The analysis of the gold transfer is intense. Macro Baker said “the issue is more about political problems than a control problem,” and stressed that central banks have the confidence to use gold reserves when necessary. Stephen Blitz and Global Data’s TS Rombard described the Dutch decision as a clear choice made with U.S. policy uncertainty in mind.
In the U.S. Treasury market, foreign investors’ holdings have been falling for a long time. After rising to about 56 % after the 2008 financial crisis, they fell to roughly 31 % last year. This confirms that U.S. Treasury securities remain the core safety‑asset of global finance and that both gold and Treasury bonds are trying to reduce reliance on the U.S. as a risk holder.