The German Taxpayers Union demands the return of gold reserves from Washington

The German Taxpayers Union demanded that German gold reserves be returned from the United States to Germany as soon as possible, due to the unexpected policy of US President Donald Trump.

Michael Jäger, Vice President of the German Taxpayers Union, said in statements to the newspapers of the Bavaria Media Group: “The time has come to return German gold from the United States,” noting that confidence in the United States has been severely damaged by Trump’s policies.

Trump’s hardline approach to the Greenland dispute has sparked debate about whether German gold stored in the United States is still safe.

The gold reserve managed by the German Central Bank for the German state is the second largest gold reserve in the world after the United States.

The size of the German gold reserve amounted to about 3,352 tons at the end of 2024.

According to the German Central Bank, more than half of this gold is stored in its own vaults in Frankfurt, while 1,236 tons, or about 37 percent of it, is kept at the Federal Reserve in New York.

The head of the German Central Bank, Joachim Nagel, believes that there is no reason to return German gold reserves from the United States.

He recently said in statements to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: “I have no doubt that our gold is safely kept at the Federal Reserve in New York.”

On the other hand, Yeager pointed out that the United States annually pays a trillion dollars in interest on its increasing government debt, adding that it is important for Trump to “achieve additional revenues at any cost, for example by imposing higher customs duties,” but it is not enough, stressing that Trump is “exerting increasing pressure on the independent US Federal Reserve Bank.”

Jäger explained that the temptation to obtain money from other sources is great, and said: “Here German gold emerges as a potential outlet,” adding that Trump may justify this “by the enormous costs of American involvement in Germany and Europe since World War II.” He said: “This may seem like a terrifying scenario, but the risks are too great to keep gold in the United States,” stressing that the decision to return the gold ultimately rests exclusively with the German Central Bank.