Netherlands main bank moves most gold reserves from America amid deteriorating EU-US relations

SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 18:43De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the national central bank of the Netherlands, announced on Wednesday that it was moving nearly 90 tons of gold from the United States and Canada amid rising tensions between the US and Europe."In view of increasing geopolitical unrest, DNB is strengthening its crisis preparedness," the bank said in a statement announcing the move, while explaining that it aimed to improve the liquidity of the bank and better distribute its reserves in the US, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.With the move, the total amount of DNB gold in the US went from 31% to 18.5%, while in Canada it went down from 19.7% to 18.5%. Additionally, Zeist replaced New York as the main location of DNB gold reserves in the world, with 30.8% of all gold bars.Europe also became the main location for DNB gold reserves, with 63.9% of all gold bars in either the Netherlands or the United Kingdom - before this move, reserves were equally distributed between Europe and America -.“With this relocation, we have improved the tradability of our gold reserves. We expect that we will never need to use them, but we do need to strengthen our resilience and preparedness,” said DNB Governor Olaf Sleijpen.Gold bars illustration. (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)How did the DNB move the gold from America?The DNB explained that it made the move by selling about 59 tonnes of gold in New York and buying back the same amount in London.Another 27 tonnes were physically transferred from the US and Canada to Zeist, and the same amount was transferred from Zeist to London.The bank said that the relocation also helped build experience in case of an emergency, with both buying and selling gold and the physical transfers being plausible options if circumstances require it.US-Europe relations suffer from clashes between officialsThe move comes amid a series of policies by both the Trump administration and European officials that have strained relations between Europe and the United States.US President Donald Trump's push to incorporate Greenland into the United States and its position on the US forces deployed in NATO countries have angered several European leaders.At the same time, the decision by NATO members to not support the US during the war with Iran also caused a rift with the Trump administration.The case of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who forbade the use of Spain's airspace for operations regarding Iran, was among the cases that sparked the most rage in Trump, but the fact that no NATO ally supported the US during the fighting also angered the US president.Back in July, Trump called Madrid a "terrible partner" during an Ankara NATO summit, while he also railed against allies for not supporting the war on Iran and ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt all trade with Spain."Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore," Trump said. "By the way, I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don't participate; they don't pay. I don't want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits."Reuters contributed to this report.Follow us on Google