(Reuters)

The Trump administration’s on-again, off-again approach to tariffs has whipsawed global markets, prompting investors to seek shelter in safe-haven assets such as gold.

At the same time, the raging trade war with China and the possibility of a U.S. recession have spurred talks of overseas investors reducing their dollar and U.S. debt positions – also considered traditional hedges against market turmoil.

Here’s a look at major economies/central banks and their holdings of gold and Treasuries in recent months:

Gold

Sustained demand from central banks has created a reliable floor under gold prices, supporting bullion’s historic rally this year. [GOL/]

Spot gold prices surged as high as $3,500.05 per ounce on Tuesday, surpassing the $3,500/oz milestone for the first time. [GOL/]

“With all the geopolitical tensions, central banks do want to diversify away from the dollar and have something that won’t be sanctioned … gold is one of those asset classes that could fit the bill,” Marex analyst Edward Meir said.

The following is a table of gold holdings of major central banks:

All figures are in tonnes.

• China’s central bank gold holding as of the end of March 2025 is 2292.38 tonnes.

Source: International Monetary Fund, People’s Bank of China

Treasuries

The two top owners of U.S. Treasuries – Japan and China – increased their U.S. debt holdings in February, when they braced for U.S. President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies.

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries rose 3.4% to $8.817 trillion in February, data from the Treasury Department showed.

“When you have an excess amount of money, like all these entities do, you have to do something with that money. And what they would do was buy debt, buy Treasury,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments.

“But when you have a trade war going on, the dynamic changes. I can almost guarantee you that data can be much different.”

Following is a table of major foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries:

The figures below are in billions of U.S. dollars:

Source: U.S. Department of Treasury (This story has been refiled to fix syntax in paragraph 1)