Donald Trump has plastered the White House with gold decorations while his policies have pushed the price of the precious metal to a record level.
And it’s also driven Australian gold exports to a fresh record high while also delivering a trade surplus with the United States.
Trump is known for his maximalist tastes and love of gold.Credit: Bloomberg
Trade figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics this morning showed the nation shipped a record $6.1 billion of gold to other parts of the world in July.
It broke the previous record, set in June, by more than $400 million.
So far this calendar year, the country has exported $34.7 billion of gold. Through all of 2024, which was a record, the country exported $35.7 billion.
Much of it is headed to the US where growing concerns about Trump’s policies, including the inflationary impact of his tariffs and his ongoing war of words with the Federal Reserve, have pushed gold prices to all-time highs.
Overnight, gold went through the $US3600 ($5508) an ounce mark with some analysts tipping it could reach $US4000 by year’s end.
Donald Trump focused his tariff war on any country with which the US had a trade deficit.Credit: Fairfax Media
The high value of gold exports continues to feed into Australia’s trade relationship with the US.
Until this year, Australia had not run a trade surplus with America since Harry Truman was in the White House in the early 1950s.
That changed at the start of the year when American investors started buying up gold as a hedge against domestic inflation.
It came at a terrible time for Australia as Trump focused his tariff war on any country with which the US had a trade deficit.
The run of Australian trade surpluses seemingly came to an end in April. But in July, Australia went back into a trade surplus with the US, to the tune of $458 million.
Gold prices lifted another 6 per cent in August, suggesting a further record in gold exports last month and another surplus with Donald Trump’s America.
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