By Ronnie Harui
Precious metals climbed Monday after President Trump threatened 10% tariffs on imports from eight European countries starting February.
"Trump's latest tariff announcement has escalated trade tensions into an entirely new dimension--one driven less by economic logic and more by political motive," two members of ING's economic and financial analysis division said in a research note.
"It is also pushing the long-standing transatlantic relationship into a severe crisis, with a clear risk of further escalation and unwarranted negative consequences for both Europe and the US economy," ING added.
Gold surged to a fresh record intraday high while silver jumped as the geopolitical risks spurred by Trump's threat seemingly triggered demand for safe-haven assets including precious metals. Spot gold rose 1.4% to $4,658.82 a troy ounce after earlier touching $4,690.88 an ounce. Spot silver climbed 3.2% to $92.99 an ounce.
The U.S. will impose a 10% levy on goods that Denmark, which has sovereignty over Greenland, exports to the U.S. beginning Feb. 1, Trump said Saturday in a social-media post. The U.S. will also place a 10% tariff on imports from Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, he wrote.
The tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1 and remain in place until a deal is reached for what he called the "complete and total purchase" of Greenland, Trump said.
Other safe-haven assets such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen strengthened. The dollar fell 0.3% to 0.7997 against the franc and edged 0.1% lower to 157.84 yen.
"Geopolitical risks continue to build," said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at StoneX, said in commentary. "Whether this is a serious policy threat or just another throwaway comment remains to be seen," he said.
"But given the US kicked off the year with a hostile takeover of Venezuela, nothing can be ruled out for now," Simpson added.
Stock markets in Asia were mixed. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.0% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 0.7%. China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi added 0.9%.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures fell, with eMini NASDAQ 100 futures sliding 1.1% and eMini S&P 500 futures down 0.8%.
Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 18, 2026 21:30 ET (02:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
