Germany is planning to move a huge amount of its gold stored in New York, given its concerns about Donald Trump's unpredictable actions. For many years, Berlin has kept 1,200 tons of its well-known gold reserves—the second largest in the world after the United States—locked away in a secure underground vault at the US Federal Reserve in Manhattan.

Senior leaders from Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, which is expected to form the next government, have reportedly talked about moving it out of New York. According to the Bild newspaper, this is because they are worried that the United States, especially Washington, can no longer be trusted as a reliable partner. Former German government minister Marco Wanderwitz, who resigned his CDU position in the Bundestag this year, told Bild, "Of course, the question has arisen again." Wanderwitz has supported a policy for a long time that would let German officials regularly check the country’s gold – or even bring all of it back to Germany.

In 2012, he asked to visit and inspect the gold reserves himself, but his request was denied. Germany built up its wealth after World War Two, when it began exporting a lot more and earned big trade surpluses with other countries. At that time, under the Bretton Woods system, these trade surpluses were turned into gold. Markus Ferber, a Member of the European Parliament from the CDU, said he also supported allowing German officials to personally check the gold reserves. “I demand regular checks of Germany’s gold reserves. Official representatives of the Bundesbank must personally count the bars and document their results,” he said. Both politicians were speaking to Bild before Trump introduced major tariffs on the European Union this week, which may have made their stance even firmer. Germany’s gold reserve stored in Manhattan is estimated to be worth €113 billion (£96 billion), making up 30% of the country’s total gold reserves.

Before the current tensions with the Trump administration, keeping the gold in a U.S. vault was considered a smart move because it allowed easy access to U.S. dollars during a major economic crisis. "Bring all German gold reserves to Frankfurt or at least to Europe as quickly as possible," suggested Michael Jäger, a member of the Taxpayers Association of Europe. Bild asked the Bundesbank for a response to the idea of moving the gold to Frankfurt, where around half of Germany’s gold reserves are already kept. Another 13 percent of the gold is stored in London.

According to the Bundesbank, it was "completely certain that we have a trustworthy, reliable partner in the Federal Reserve in New York in the storage of our gold reserves."  Germany isn’t just focusing on becoming more independent through its gold reserves. After winning the elections in February, CDU leader Friedrich Merz announced a major change in borrowing rules that could allow unlimited spending on defence.

Under these new reforms, defence projects equal to 1% of Germany’s GDP will not be restricted by the country’s debt limit. Along with this, a €500 billion infrastructure fund is being launched to improve Germany’s aging roads, railways, and public services. The aim is to make the Bundeswehr, Germany's army, a strong and reliable part of Europe's defense, while also helping other European countries build up their own military strength and reduce their reliance on American weapons and soldiers.