The umbrella of producers and merchants in precious metals notes that “stable and predictable commercial rules are essential for the gold industry and for the confidence of international markets”.
The Swiss association of producers and merchants in precious metals (ASFCMP) informs Tuesday that it has “noted” of the public declaration of Donald Trump the day before, according to which gold will not be subject to American customs duties. However, she awaits a “formal and restrictive” decision of the American president.
“President Trump’s statement is an encouraging signal for commercial stability,” said Christoph Wild, president of the ASFCMP, quoted in a statement.
“However, only a formal and binding decision will bring the certainty that the gold sector and its partners need,” he added.
The association notes that “stable and predictable commercial rules are essential for the gold industry and for the confidence of international markets”.
She says she awaits the confirmation of the competent American authorities in order to ensure that the measure announced will be officially implemented and that trade relations between Switzerland and the United States in the field of gold will be able to resume “in complete safety for all parties”.
On Monday, Donald Trump communicated on his social social platform that “gold will not be subject to customs duties!”, Without more details.
At the end of last week, the Gold course had crossed a new record in New York, investors worrying about seeing certain ingots finally affected by the customs duties imposed by the American president.
According to an update of American customs, detailed in a document dated July 31 but made public on Friday, the golden ingots of one kilogram and those of 100 ounces were classified as subject to customs duties, while investors thought they were exempt.
Later, the White House had however indicated that it planned to “publish a decree in the near future to clarify the erroneous information concerning the taxation of gold ingots and other specialized products”.
Gold withdrawn from the trade balance?
According to the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (OFDF), 476 tonnes of gold for a value of 39 billion francs were sent to the United States in the first half, raising the Swiss trade surplus. It amounted to 24 billion without gold, support experts.
Golden merchants in fact imported enormous quantities of gold at the start of the year in order to avoid customs duties later.
Mr. Wild recently proposed to withdraw physical gold exports from the commercial balance of goods and count them as a flow of capital or by mentioning only the added value of the service. An idea qualified as “bad” by Swissaid in a reaction to the news of the non-taxation of gold.
“If the gold trade disappears from customs statistics, there will no longer be any possibility of traceability and therefore even less transparency. However, it is precisely more transparency, and no less, which is necessary to contribute to reducing human rights violations, environmental damage and armed conflicts linked to global gold trade, “said Marc Ummel, expert in raw materials with the NGO, quoted in a press release.