World Gold Council: Tariff Feast, Who Will Pay the Bill?

On June 13th, the World Gold Council issued a statement stating that despite some fluctuations in the gold price in May, it ended the month basically flat at $3278 per ounce. From the beginning of the year until now, the price of gold has risen by 26%. According to the Gold Risk Assessment Model (GRAM) for short-term price performance, the main drivers supporting the gold price in May were tariff-related policy risks, rising inflation expectations, and the lagging impact of the sharp depreciation of the US dollar in April. In addition, the council stated that as of now, US companies seem to be bearing the cost of tariffs, and attempts by retail platforms to pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers have been met with strong public backlash. The World Gold Council mentioned that a US federal court has halted the Trump administration's broad efforts to impose tariffs, leading to a brief rebound in the market on May 29th. The market generally believes that imposing tariffs will eventually push up inflation, but official data currently show that inflation remains mild. However, the unofficial Truflation platform indicates a clear increase in inflation index, the reason being that although the US government insists that the cost of tariffs is borne by the taxed countries, data has not yet confirmed this claim.