Gold prices broke through the $2800 mark for the first time on Friday, as US President Trump threatened tariffs, intensifying market concerns about global economic growth and inflationary pressures, prompting investors to rush into safe haven assets.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2801.29 per ounce, hitting a record high of $2817.23 during trading. US gold futures closed 0.4% lower at $2835 per ounce, up from spot gold.

Bob Haberkorn, Senior Market Strategist at RJO Futures, said, "There is a lot of uncertainty now, and the market is also adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards tariff issues on the geopolitical stage

Trump has set Saturday as the final deadline for deciding to impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico. Gold is the preferred asset during times of economic and geopolitical turmoil and is expected to achieve its best monthly performance since March 2024. It has risen nearly 7% so far this month, and gold has repeatedly hit new highs last year.

Spot silver fell 0.8% to $31.42 per ounce after hitting a more than month high on Thursday.

In a report, TD Securities said: 'We expect this strong trend in (silver) to attract the interest of independent traders, as trading activity in this group has remained almost unchanged as of last week, while gold has hit a historic high and the gold to silver ratio remains high.'.

According to two informed sources, participants in the London gold market are competing to borrow central bank gold stored in London, as there is speculation that the United States may impose import tariffs, leading to a surge in gold deliveries to the United States.

One of the sources said that the shortest waiting time for extracting gold from the Bank of England, which stores gold for central banks around the world, has reached four weeks, compared to several days or a week under normal circumstances. US President Trump did not mention precious metals in his tariff plan, but this risk is enough to boost gold delivery in New York, as some markets seek to hedge their positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) and others seek to profit from the significant increase in COMEX futures premiums to London spot contracts.

Industry expert Robert Gottlieb said that for the Bank of England, the key is that it is not a commercial treasury, so it is not prepared to respond to the demand for banks to borrow heavily in gold from the central bank.

Two Federal Reserve officials, who are seen as having vastly different policy stances, both stated on Friday that they will focus on the impact of the Trump administration's policies on inflation when assessing how much further interest rates should be lowered.

Federal Reserve Governor Bauman and Chicago Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Goolsby both expressed a fundamental belief in their respective speeches that inflation may continue to decline this year and allow for further interest rate cuts, although the timing of the cuts is still uncertain.

But both said that the policies expected to be introduced by the Trump administration have increased the uncertainty of the inflation path, thereby also increasing the uncertainty of the Federal Reserve's policy interest rate path.

Bauman is widely regarded as a representative of the Federal Reserve's policy hardliners, who are more concerned about inflation, while Goolsby is more concerned about the job market, despite both being committed to the Fed's 2% inflation target.

The expected Trump policies may limit labor supply by deporting immigrants and potentially raise prices by imposing import taxes.

Government officials have stated that they believe tariffs will not exacerbate inflation. In fact, the Federal Reserve ultimately lowered policy rates during Trump's first term due to growing concerns that tariffs and trade actions are slowing down economic growth.

While paying attention to the upcoming official statistics on inflation and employment, Bauman stated that the Federal Reserve should now take gradual action to "clarify government policies and their impact on the economy.

Bauman said, "In addition to having greater confidence in how the economy will respond, it is also very important to have a better understanding of actual policies and how to implement them

Investors currently expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its June meeting and again later this year.

Bauman stated that she believes inflation may be stronger than expected due to sustained economic growth, rising wages, geopolitical risks, and the possibility of suppressed demand being released by financial markets and business confidence.

She said, 'I would prefer that future adjustments to policy interest rates be gradual. We should take the time to carefully evaluate the progress made in achieving inflation and employment targets. I remain concerned that the relatively loose financial environment of the past year may be one of the reasons for the lack of further progress in mitigating inflation.' She also added that current interest rates may not be as restrictive.

Bauman and Goolsby both have voting rights on interest rate policy, and their remarks demonstrate the common dilemma that Federal Reserve officials are currently facing - how to formulate policies for the economy. The US economy has been in the best state of good growth, declining inflation, and low unemployment for a year, but now faces a period where federal policies may undergo significant changes.

As a senior economic advisor to the Obama administration, Goolsby stated that he still believes inflation will ease this year and allows the Federal Reserve to continue lowering its main interest rates.

Unlike Bauman, he did not point out the direct upward risk facing inflation, but instead focused on the new data released on Friday. The data shows that inflation data in recent months has been approaching the target of 2%, and he expects this situation to continue.

Looking at the situation in six or eight months, we are approaching 2%, "Gulsby said." I have always felt that we are on the path of 2%. I have confidence that we are on this path“

At the same time, "we are facing policy uncertainty that may affect prices... If it affects prices, it will affect us," Gulsby said. He pointed out that tariffs and other actions may create a "chaotic" outlook, and policymakers must distinguish between those price impacts that may persist and those one-time adjustments that can be ignored. It is not clear whether monetary policy should respond, "he said." Our challenge is that if the policy causes prices to rise, we must figure out which part of inflation monetary policy should ignore and which part is a signal of stronger price pressure caused by economic conditions.