US President Donald Trump has said gold will be exempt from tariffs, days after a government posting caused uncertainty as to what is considered a safe haven asset.
“Gold will not be tariffed,” Mr Trump wrote on the Truth Social media platform, without offering further details.
US gold futures were trading 2.36 lower at to $3,408.80 an ounce at 2.15pm ET.
Gold prices hit a record high last week after the US Customs and Border Protection ruled that gold bars from Switzerland would be subjected to tariffs that Mr Trump had placed on the country. A White House official later said it would issue an order in the near future to exempt gold bars.
Had the tariff gone into effect, Switzerland's gold exports would have faced the same 39 per cent charge as other goods.
The Swiss Precious Metals Association on Friday also warned the tariffs could harm “the international flow of physical gold”.
“We are particularly concerned about the implications of the tariffs for the gold industry and the physical exchange of gold with the US, a long-standing and historical partner for Switzerland,” said Christoph Wild, the association's president.
Barrick Mining chief executive Mark Bristow told Reuters before Mr Trump's announcement that the tariff's impact on miners would have been minimal.
The price of gold is up more than 27 per cent this year as investors flock to it amid Mr Trump's on-again, off-again tariff agenda.
Mr Trump also signed an order extending a trade truce with China by another 90 days, US media reported. The truce, initially agreed to by both countries in May and which lowered the escalatory tariffs on each other's goods, was set to expire on Tuesday.
The White House did not immediately return The National's request for comment.
Asked on Monday about the deadline, Mr Trump said: “We'll see what happens. They've been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with President Xi [Jinping] and myself.”
