Market Data 
- Gold price pops on Thursday after two days of firm selling pressure.
- US President Trump pours cold water on earlier de-escalating statements, China may receive a new tariff rate in the next two to three weeks.
- Markets are back to square one with equities on the back foot and safe-haven Gold being bid.
Gold price (XAU/USD) recovers from a two-day decline and traders around $$3,335 at the time of writing on Thursday after two days of firm selling pressure since it topped at $3,500 on Tuesday. United States (US) President Donald Trump released more comments from the Oval Office late Wednesday, signaling that China may receive a new tariff rate in the next “two to three weeks” while countries that are currently in the negotiation phase might see reciprocal tariffs come in if negotiations are not going the way Trump wants, Bloomberg reports.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that President Trump’s earlier comments were not an offer to take down US tariffs on China on a unilateral basis. When asked if there was no unilateral offer from the president to de-escalate, Bessent said “not at all”, Bloomberg reports. The Treasury Secretary said that the administration is looking at multiple factors, not just tariffs, but including non-tariff barriers and government subsidies for China.
Daily digest market movers: China markets face double selling pressure
- The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has reported that its Gold holdings allowed the central bank to report a profit for the first quarter. The SNB notched up a gain of 6.7 billion Swiss Francs (CHF) from January through March, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday, Bloomberg reports.
- Gold futures in Shanghai followed the recent sell-off in Gold and priced the largest intraday drop since 2013. Chinese investors rushed to take profit on the assumption that a China-US trade deal was imminent after comments from US President Donald Trump on Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Several trading firms are still signaling healthy buying taking place in Gold. “The temporary reprieve from Trump has fizzled out,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, a Singapore-based analyst at Philip Nova Pte. “Investors who missed the dip-buying wagon earlier in April drove the rise today.”, Bloomberg reports.
Gold Price Technical Analysis: Looking for conviction
Bullion is seeing a slight recovery on Thursday and trades again above $3,300 after a quite harsh correction. Technical traders, though, might not be that rejoicing when looking at the daily price action, with Gold rejected on the topside at $3,367 earlier in the day, which roughly coincides with the daily R1 resistance at $3,363.
Looking at technical levels, the daily Pivot Point at $3,311 has already been recovered in early Asian trading, with the R1 intraday resistance already tested and rejected at $3,363. Further up, Gold price could extend the rally to the R2 resistance at $3,438.
On the downside, a floor is being formed near $3,245 (April 11 high) as an important technical pivotal level, with the S1 support at $3,236 just underneath it. In case that area does not hold, the S2 support at $3,185 and the technical pivotal level at $3,167 (April 3 high) should hold any downside pressure.
XAU/USD: Daily Chart
US-China Trade War FAQs
Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.
An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.
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