Gold Market
On Thursday, gold prices sharply fell amid a stronger US dollar and rising expectations of interest rate hikes: spot gold dropped by 2.2% to 4,651.35 dollars per ounce, and American gold futures declined by 2.8% to 4,679.70 dollars. US President Trump said he would continue attacks on Iran, promising to “send Iran back to the Stone Age,” which pushed oil prices higher, intensified concerns about inflation, and reduced the likelihood of rate cuts, putting pressure on non-yielding gold. Since the escalation of the Middle East conflict on February 28, spot gold prices have fallen by 12%. Market sentiment also deteriorated due to a sharp reduction in the gold reserves of the Central Bank of Turkey—over the past two weeks by more than 118 tons (on last week — a decline of 69.1 tons to 702.5 tons). On the demand side, amid falling gold prices in India, a premium over the spot price was recorded for the first time in two months. Among other precious metals: spot silver fell by 3.7% to 72.38 dollars, platinum rose by 0.9% to 1,981.95 dollars, and palladium fell by 1.9% to 1,497.00 dollars.

According to the APP "Golden Shape" report, U.S. President Trump signed a statement on Thursday aimed at adjusting national tariffs for security reasons on the import of steel, aluminum, and copper (Section 232 tariffs). This adjustment is intended to lower tariff rates on derivative metals, simplify declaration procedures, and prevent undervaluation of import values.
The statement says that the U.S. will maintain a 50% tariff on imports of such bulk goods as steel, aluminum, and copper, but now this rate will be applied to the price paid by American consumers. The main changes concern derivative products, where a threshold metal content is introduced for more accurate duty assessment.
Details of the new rules
Under the new rules, if the steel, aluminum, or copper content in a derivative product by weight is less than 15%, the U.S. will cancel the previously applicable 50% tariff, effectively exempting such goods from duties. This measure is intended to exempt products with very low metal content, such as perfume bottles with aluminum caps or dental floss boxes with miniature steel blades.
For derivative products with metal content exceeding 15%, a reduced tariff rate of 25% will be applied, but this rate will be calculated based on the total value of the imported product, not just the metal content. Thus, for products like washing machines or gas stoves, where steel is a main component, the duty will be 25% of the total value.
Meanwhile, bulk goods made of steel, aluminum, and copper will retain a high 50% duty, calculated on the entire sale price. According to officials, these measures could generate additional revenue from tariffs and also simplify customs declaration, eliminating opportunities to evade tariffs by undervaluing metal content.