The European Union has announced a set of retaliatory measures to address the U.S.’s recent imposition of tariffs on European steel and aluminium, which have spurred tensions between the two economic powers. The European Commission revealed that it will implement tariffs targeting U.S. exports worth up to €26 billion, including diamonds, coloured gemstones, and jewellery. The measures, scheduled to take effect on April 1st, come as the EU decries the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium, which are valued at over €18 billion.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that the EU’s countermeasures, which match the scale of U.S. tariffs, are designed to be both firm and proportionate. “As the U.S. is applying tariffs worth $28 billion, we are responding with countermeasures worth €26 billion. This matches the economic scope of the U.S. tariffs,” she stated.

However, the EU remains open to resolving the dispute through negotiations. Von der Leyen entrusted Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič to continue talks with the U.S. in hopes of finding a mutually beneficial solution, stressing that both sides should avoid escalating tensions in a time of global economic uncertainty.

In the first two months of 2025, during the Chinese New Year festive season, gold bars, coins and ETFs saw an uptick in demand driven by several factors – such as gold’s global stability as an investment asset & China’s sluggish economic growth coupled with the Yuan’s volatility. While gold jewellery demand also showed some improvement, it remained weak when measured in tonnage.

During the lunar new year period, jewellery stores anticipated higher consumer interest as compared to previous months, according to the World Gold Council.

About 125 tonnes of gold was withdrawn from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) in January 2025. This represents a 3% rise month-on-month but well below the same period in the previous years, highlighting the soaring gold price’s negative impact on the tonnage of gold jewellery demand.

“Elevated gold prices pushed consumers more towards lightweight pieces. While tonnage demand for gold jewellery may have stayed tepid, consumer spending on gold jewellery was robust,” Roland Wang, China CEO, World Gold Council said. In China, weddings play a notable role in gold sales. However, this year may see the lowest number of marriages take place in China in 10 years and that could negatively affect gold jewellery consumption. “Mass-appeal jewellery products with lower labour charges but finer craftsmanship will continue to attract consumers,” says Wang.

So far, Chinese consumer behaviour towards gold in 2025 mirrors 2024 trends. Up until November 2024, gold reigned as the best-performing investment asset in China, with its RMB (Yuan) value appreciating nearly 28%. Gold thus drew more investors and less jewellery buyers last year. Gold bar and coin investment in the first three quarters of 2024 reached its highest level in 11 years. In contrast, demand for gold jewellery dropped to its lowest level in 14 years.

However, last year total gold consumption in China fell 10% year-on-year. As weak demand was anticipated due to slow economic growth, China imported 14% less gold in 2024 as compared to 2025, and 16% below the pre-Covid five-year average.

To uplift China’s economic condition in 2025, the Chinese government has made consumer spending its topmost priority.In a parliamentary session in Beijing, earlier this month, Chinese Premier Li Qiang promised to vigorously boost domestic consumption as the country set a 5% growth target.

This year, China has raised its budget deficit to 5.66 trillion Yuan ($780 billion) or around 4% of gross domestic product, the highest level in almost 3 decades, according to various news agency reports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Bloomberg’s median forecast China’s GDP to grow at 4.5% in 2025, year-on-year; economic growth in China, according to the World Gold Council, will be the biggest driver for gold investments and consumption of jewellery.

As an investment asset, bar and coin sales could continue gaining momentum and any gold price adjustment could be considered a good opportunity to enter for investors in 2025.As China looks to navigate through its slow economic growth, it is exploring increased investments in assets that offer stable yields.

A new programme launched earlier in February by the National Financial Regulatory Administration of China allows the country’s insurers to invest 1% of their assets in bullion. Ten insurance firms in China including China Life Insurance Co. will be able to invest their assets in precious metals like physical gold. China is the world’s second largest insurance market, and this pilot project could unlock up to $27.4 billion in investment

The total value of all Antwerp’s diamond imports and exports fell by over a third in the first two months of 2025, according to the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) as the global slowdown and the impact of lab gowns were compounded by the effects of G7 sanctions on the sole verification point.

Imports fell 36 per cent by value, from $2bn in January and February 2024, to $1.3bn in the same months of 2025 and were down by 17 per cent in carat terms, from 26.8m carats to 22.1m carats.

Exports were down by almost 38 per cent to $1bn by value and down 24 per cent to 11m carats by volume.

Average per carat rough prices recorded by the AWDC’s Diamond Office fell by over 11 per cent from January 2024 to January 2025 to $98.36 and polished prices were down by over 9 per cent during the same period to $1.940.69.

Antwerp had suffered geopolitical tensions, dwindling demand and lab grown popularity like other diamond centers, said Karen Rentmeesters,  CEO of AWDC at an inaugural Town Hall meeting (on 12 March). But it was only the only hub hit by the G7 sanctions on Russia, which wiped out over a quarter of its supply. “There’s geopolitical tensions, there’s dwindling demand, there’s increased competition from lab grown or synthetic diamonds. And this has had a severe impact on the trade, on the volumes, across the board. We see it in all the trade hubs and the manufacturing hubs.”

She also noted that figures for January and February 2024 were just before the implementation of indirect G7 sanctions on 1 March 2024, outlawing diamonds of 1.0-cts or above, even if polished outside Russia.But she said Antwerp, alone among diamond hubs, had been hit by the G7 sanctions. Antwerp has been the sole verification point for rough goods entering the G7 (and the EU) countries since 1 March 2024, although the European Commission (EC) has said it will be establishing a second entry point in Botswana.