The Dutch central bank has yanked more than 78 metric tons of gold out of New York, citing the tumultuous international climate — the second European country to ditch its US precious metal stores this year.
De Nederlandsche Bank, or DNB, cut its New York holdings as it reallocated about 86 total metric tons of gold held across the US and Canada, largely toward London, according to the Financial Times.
The bank said the overhaul was designed to strengthen its readiness for a crisis amid “increasing geopolitical unrest.”
DNB did not blame Trump or suggest Washington was planning to seize its reserves.
Instead, the central bank said spreading its gold more evenly across jurisdictions would reduce risk while making more of the precious metal readily available during a crisis, the Financial Times reported.
“With this relocation, we have improved the tradeability of our gold reserves,” DNB governor Olaf Sleijpen said.
Earlier this year, France eliminated its remaining New York gold holdings, selling 129 metric tons that had been stored in the States, according to reports.
It used proceeds from the January sale to buy an equivalent amount of gold in Europe, and the precious pile now sits in Paris.
The Banque de France explicitly ruled out a political explanation for the move at the time.
As for the Netherlands, it holds about 612 metric tons of gold. Its latest reshuffling reduced the country’s New York stockpile by just over 78 metric tons and its Ottawa holdings by roughly 7 metric tons, according to the FT.
A US ton is about 10% heavier than a metric ton.
Most of the bullion didn’t actually cross the Atlantic.
Only about 27 metric tons were physically transported from North America to Europe, while DNB sold much of its remaining North American holdings and purchased replacement gold in London, the world’s largest physical-bullion trading hub.
The shift nevertheless comes against a politically charged backdrop in Europe, where several German lawmakers have publicly questioned whether keeping their country’s massive gold hoard in New York remains prudent under Trump.
Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament, warned last year that Trump’s unpredictability created risk around holding foreign reserves in the US.
“Trump is erratic and one cannot rule out that someday he will come up with creative ideas how to treat foreign gold reserves,” Ferber told Reuters in May 2025.
German Green lawmaker Katharina Beck has likewise called for reconsidering the country’s US holdings, warning that its reserves must not become a geopolitical “pawn.”
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, another German member of the European Parliament, has also argued that Trump’s policies make the country’s lack of unrestricted physical control over its New York gold a growing risk.
None of the politicians has said Trump has an actual plan to confiscate the bullion.
Michael Jäger, who heads the European Taxpayers Association and is not a politician, has issued an even starker warning.
“Trump is unpredictable,” Jäger said earlier this year, arguing that German gold was “no longer safe” in the Fed’s vaults and raising concerns that Germany could potentially lose access to it.
Germany has by far the biggest exposure among the countries at the center of the debate.
Its Bundesbank holds about 3,350 total metric tons of gold, including 1,236 metric tons stored in New York — about 37% of its total reserves. About 1,710 metric tons are held in Frankfurt and about 404 metric tons in London.
Germany already carried out a massive repatriation program beginning in 2013, ultimately moving 300 metric tons from New York to Frankfurt and another 374 metric tons from Paris.
Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has rejected the argument that Germany’s New York holdings are in jeopardy.
“I have no doubt that the gold is safely stored at the Federal Reserve in New York,” Nagel he said in an interview earlier this year, noting that the reserves enjoy special legal protections.
“Eventually, the US would hurt itself most if it were to call that legal status into question in any way and thereby put the confidence of financial markets at risk,” he added.
The New York Fed acts as custodian rather than owner of foreign governments’ bullion, and US law generally shields foreign central bank assets from being seized by private creditors to satisfy court judgments.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
