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Is Germany's gold safe in New York ?

Is Germany's gold safe in New York ?

KnuthIsGod

Comments (211)

  • PowerElectronix
    The fact that this question needs asking tells a lot about how other countries see the current administration.
  • devsda
    Probably safe as long as Germany is amenable to supporting "American interests" which can be anything and everything as decided by a human RNG they choose to elect.
  • apples_oranges
    I want America to go back to being as it was before
  • mrlonglong
    Pull it.The French sold theirs and bought new stock on the European market.
  • KellyCriterion
    isnt the question more like: "Is it _still_ there?":-))
  • dmos62
  • surgical_fire
    Of course not, it is a profoundly untrustworthy country.How they dealt with Iran is how I expect them to deal with everyone else - They started bombing the country during negotiations.What is amazing is that they just didn't seize Germany's gold yet.
  • gloosx
    Am I missing something but I can't see full article? All I see is like a 100 words preview, is this the whole thing?
  • lo_fye
    Betteridge's Law of Headlines states that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered with "no".
  • fmajid
    Of course not. That's why Charles de Gaulle repatriated French gold from the New York Fed in the 1960s. Before Trump, there was Nixon, the US has form in reneging on its commitments.It seems there are still 138 tons of gold left over that will be recovered by 2028:https://www.mining.com/france-pulls-last-gold-held-in-us-for...
  • jmyeet
    We don't even need to theorize how this can go wrong. We've got a real example: the French CFA system that is used to do economic colonialism in West Africa [1]. Basically, it works like this:14 French-speaking Africian former colonies keep significant (>50%) of their gold reserves with the French treasury and use the CFA Franc as a currency, which is pegged to the Euro.The colonial model is one of discouraging or even outright banning being self-sufficient. Crops that might otherwise feed the local populace are replaced to exportable cash crops. In particular, that's the World Bank/IMF model of "helping".Anyway, Germany isn't a US imperial interest in the same way Cote d'Ivoire is for France... yet. Still, there are other mechanisms beyond gold that the US uses to influence or even control Germany (ie NATO).[1]: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-the-france-backed-afr...
  • KingOfCoders
    No.
  • wolvoleo
    With Trump? Obviously not. The rule of law doesn't concern him. They should remove it asap like France.
  • andrewstuart
    Germany should ask for its gold in 3 years from now.
  • OutOfHere
    What would Germany want if it were to get attacked by Russia with the US conspicuously missing from NATO?
  • bell-cot
    For Germany's national interests, the ideal probably would have been repatriation back in early 2010. A decade after Poland had joined NATO, half a decade after the Baltic States had - the threat of Russia somehow seizing the gold was at a nadir. The 2007-9 fiscal crisis was safely past, the Euro crisis not yet too dire, Obama was in the White House, and the winds were otherwise favorable for quietly sailing Germany's gold back home.Second best might have been for Germany to get its gold back in mid-2021 - Biden in the White House, but events of 6 Jan '21 making it really obvious that the US wasn't nearly so stable as in the good old days.Vs. raising the subject now*, with a very temperamental administration in Washington, feels ill-advised. Though I'm probably marking myself as a senile idealist, to even think of a national gov't, or leading media outlet, intelligently working for its nation's long-term interests.From another angle, I could see leaving it in NYC as a symptom of advanced calcification of Germany's politics and gov't bureaucracy. Moving the gold home would require major decisions, real organizing, and competent execution. Vs. the relative do-nothing of inaction, forever turning the crank of old routines, is so much easier.*Yes, I noticed the article's 2 Feb 2026 date.
  • t1234s
    not according to Die Hard 3
  • jjgreen
    Not really "should Germany move it?", rather "can Germany move it?"
  • SanjayMehta
    Charles de Gaulle warned of French gold deposits being at risk, his successor sent French warships to recover French gold. That was decades ago.I think the question is moot now.Update: corrected a bit of history.
  • dist-epoch
    Trump is literally saying stuff like:"We're going to take all of their oil. And there is nothing they can do about it..."
  • fredgrott
    its the wrong question!The question should why has not Germany pulled gold out to server two goals:1. Financial gain 2. another step towards economic independence from USAFrance already did the right thing....Pay attention, as it does not hurt the world and economic system for multiple world reserve currencies to exist....EU might as be a reserve currency.
  • jbverschoor
    It wasn’t safe in the 70s lol
  • darshil2023
    [dead]
  • 8593376393
    [dead]
  • 0x3f
    Not really Trump-specific is it, given Europe seized a ton of Russian assets. Maybe they just realized how easy that was and that nobody is going to war over it.
  • MagicMoonlight
    It’s brave to assume the gold is still there. Nobody checks it; last time they did, a bunch of bars were made of tungsten.If you’re someone guarding the gold, you’d have to be stupid not to replace it with tungsten. A single bar is a lifetime of wages. It’s not like anyone will ever notice, it’s a reserve that will never be spent.
  • mathgradthrow
    This is the dumbest thing that has ever been posted on this site.
  • bighead1
    You could replace the word Germany with the US and this article would still make sense.
  • dingdingdang
    Having your stuff stored in another country is ultimately a voucher of confidence, I can't see Trump or anyone else willingly misusing that trust. I do think the Western leaders need to temper their tendencies for isolationism these days, what's the alternative guys? And why even think that other people/cultures will want you in their swimming-pool if you can't keep your own one clean/functional?(this comment also covers France recently bringing home their gold)