Gold Prices Slips Despite Escalating U.S.-China Trade Tensions

Investing.com – Gold prices inched lower on Tuesday despite reports that the U.S. is slapping 10% tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods.

for December delivery slipped 0.17% to $1,203.70 per troy ounce at 1:00AM ET (05:00 GMT) on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement on Monday that U.S. is slapping 10% tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, and that the tariffs would rise to 25% in January 2019.

Trump added that “if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”

“We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly,” he said in the statement.

“But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.”

Gold prices were under pressure in recent months despite intensifying trade tensions between the U.S. and its trade partners, as investors turned to the dollar for safety. The greenback received some support earlier in the session and popped up to 94.607 following the trade news.

Rising U.S. interest rates were also cited as headwind for the precious metal.

“Gold is facing a couple of headwinds … The impending rate hike by the Fed is weighing on and obviously the escalation of trade conflict is pushing investors back in to the U.S. dollar,” ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.

“This (trade woes) has not helped gold prices at all. It is likely to be a pretty tough environment for gold in the next couple of weeks as it battles these two fronts.”

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