Representatives of the CDU are concerned about the safety of Germany’s gold reserves in storage at the US Federal Reserve, Bild reports. In particular, the publication cites the opinion of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MP Marco Vandervitz, who, according to Bild, unsuccessfully tried to inspect the gold reserves in 2012, trying to force the Bundesbank to either take on a more active role as custodian or repatriate them to Germany.
MEP Markus Ferber (CDU) also called for more thorough inspections of German gold stored in the United States.
“Bundesbank officials should personally count the bullion and document their results,” Bild quoted him as saying.
Germany has the second largest gold reserves in the world, and keeps 37% of them – about 1,236 metric tons worth 113 billion euros – in the vaults of the Federal Reserve System of New York. These reserves of the precious metal ensure that the Bundesbank will have access to what it can exchange for US dollars (or any other hard currency) if needed.
German politicians are concerned about both Trump’s tariff policy and his attempts to expand his powers and become above the US judicial system.
In February, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel told Bild: “We have (…) no doubt that in the New York Fed we have a reliable partner for the storage of our foreign exchange reserves.”
The publication points out that concerns about the fate of gold have been exacerbated by “none other than billionaire and senior Trump administration official Elon Musk, who called for a review of the US’s own foreign exchange reserves.”
