The decline in the dollar and the escalating trade war between the US and China have pushed investors towards seeking a safe haven, causing gold’s ounce price to jump to a record high. Gold, one of the “safe haven” assets, continues to break records due to increasing uncertainty, geopolitical risks, concerns about economic slowdowns, and uncertainties regarding the possible outcomes of the aggressive US tariff policy. Today, the ounce price of gold reached a record high of $3,174.74, with a 2.8% increase. The ounce price of gold had also risen by approximately 3% yesterday. Gold is currently one of the few commodities unaffected by customs duties. The ounce price has increased by over 36% in the last 12 months and more than 20% this year. In addition to the uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, the message from China stating “We will respond to the trade war” has been influential in the rise of the gold ounce price. Concerns had been raised about a possible widespread trade war causing global economic slowdown following Trump’s announcement of a tariff package on April 2. Trump’s announcement yesterday to halt high tariffs for some countries for 90 days had revived global stock markets and had not slowed down the rise in gold. TARIFF ESCALATION BETWEEN THE US AND CHINA President Donald Trump announced additional customs tariffs on trade partners, including China, as part of “mutual tariffs” on April 2. In response, China raised customs tariffs on imported goods from the US by 84%, to which Trump announced an increase in tariffs to 125%. China had signaled that it would not back down in the escalating tension following Trump’s announcement to raise the customs tariffs on Chinese goods to 125%. Meanwhile, the White House clarified that the customs tariff rate on China, previously announced to be raised to 125% yesterday by President Trump, only applies to mutual tariffs, with the total tariff rate reaching 145% when those related to the fentanyl crisis are included. The US dollar index, used to measure the value of the dollar against the euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, and Swedish krona, fell by up to 1.80% to 101.08.