For the past 50 years, Washington has regarded gold as a "relic of history."
Wall Street has rarely placed gold at the core of asset allocation models for a long time, and central bank officials once dismissed its importance. Reconsidering the gold reserves at Fort Knox as a key backing for the US Dollar was far outside mainstream policy discussions for a long period.
However, this landscape may be changing.
Graham Summers, Chief Market Strategist at Phoenix Capital Research, argues that the US government has taken a series of notable actions surrounding gold over the past 18 months. When these developments are viewed together, they may signal a shift in Washington’s strategic positioning of gold.
Signal 1: Trump Includes Gold in the Critical Minerals Policy Framework
The first notable move took place on March 20, 2025.
On that day, US President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14241 — Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production.
The executive order directed federal agencies to accelerate the development, permitting and production of a range of mineral resources vital to national security. Gold was listed alongside resources such as copper, uranium and potash.
Summers believes this deserves special attention, because it means gold was placed within the US strategic minerals and national security policy framework in an official presidential executive order.
Signal 2: Bessent EmphASIzes US Gold Reserves Worth Over $1 Trillion
The second signal came from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
In an interview this summer, Bessent stated that the United States had completed an audit of the gold reserves at Fort Knox, and all gold holdings were fully documented.
Calculated at prevailing market prices at that time, America’s gold reserves were valued at more than $1 trillion, representing the world’s largest official gold stockpile.
Summers says investors should pay attention to the US government’s voluntary audit and public emphASIs on the size and value of its gold reserves.
In his view, if a reserve asset had completely lost policy significance, the government would normally have no reason to highlight its scale and value. This may reflect gold’s rising importance within America’s system of strategic assets.
Signal 3: US Treasury Identifies Gold as a Key Area for Iran Sanctions
The third action occurred at the end of August.
During a press briefing on new US sanctions against Iran, Bessent named gold as one of the key sectors covered by the sanctions, alongside digital assets, technology, aviation and shipping.
A major backdrop is that Iran is accused of using gold to transfer funds and value outside the SWIFT international payment system and the US Dollar system.
Summers notes this shows the US Treasury views gold as an asset capable of practical cross-border value transfer that could affect the effectiveness of American financial sanctions.
For him, this touches not only sanctions policy but also embodies gold’s monetary attributes.
$40 Trillion Debt Overhang Makes Gold’s Role Worthy of Closer Scrutiny
These shifts are unfolding amid heavy pressure in the US bond market.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note recently climbed as high as 5.34%, the highest level since 2002.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury has carried out multi-billion-dollar Treasury buyback operations, and the total debt the federal government needs to finance has reached roughly $40 trillion.
As Treasury yields rise, the US government faces mounting pressure on its borrowing costs.
Summers argues this macro backdrop makes the simultaneous developments noteworthy: Washington is seeking every possible way to contain financing costs, while the US government is attaching greater strategic importance to gold.
Still, he stresses there is no evidence that Washington is announcing a return to the gold standard, so investors should not make investment decisions based on the assumption that the United States will reinstate the gold standard.
What truly matters is the policy direction itself.
Summers says a series of signs — from the Trump administration placing gold within the critical minerals policy framework, to the US Treasury re-emphASIzing its massive official gold reserves, and gold gaining prominence within the financial sanctions system — may indicate that:
Gold is gradually re-entering the core scope of America’s monetary, financial and national security policies.