Tariff-fuelled economic anxiety is pushing some Canadians to look for safe havens to ride out the storm, and precious metal dealers say it’s driving a rush to gold.
Tyler Whitmore, CEO of Canada Gold, which buys and sells gold at two Ottawa locations and elsewhere in the country, said the company has seen a spike in demand across its 16 locations.
“We typically place one major order per month for gold bars and coins from our distributors, primarily the Royal Canadian Mint. At the moment we’re placing two orders per week,” he said. “The increase in demand for physical bullion is significant across all of our stores.”
He said the jump in sales is on a similar scale to what the company saw during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. If it lasts, it could be even bigger.
“This could be the highest period of demand for physical bullion that we’ve ever seen in our 15-plus year company history,” he said.
He chalks it up to worries about U.S. President Donald Trump and the impact of his threatened tariffs, which have led to sharp stock market downturns. Whitmore said buyers are nervous about the Canadian dollar and the risk of recession.
“Canadians are looking to invest in assets that typically perform well during periods of market uncertainty and turbulence, and they are turning toward physical gold and silver assets that they can actually hold in their hand,” he said.
At Sprott Money, a gold dealer in Toronto, sales of gold and silver are up about 25 per cent compared to the same time last year. The company’s president, Larisa Sprott, has witnessed “a huge change in the physical gold market” that began when Trump was elected in November.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of fear coming into the market, and typically when we see fear in the market, we see people go to safe havens,” she said. “The safe haven is of course gold, and silver to a lesser extent.”
Let’s get physical
It’s certainly possible — and easy — to get into the gold market without buying a hunk of physical metal and stowing it away at home. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) make up a sizeable share of the gold market, allowing customers to get in on the action with the click of a button.
According to the World Gold Council, gold-backed ETFs saw strong inflows last month, the highest since March 2022. Most of that surge came from North America, which recorded the strongest inflows since July 2020.
But Sprott said many customers want the comfort of physically holding the metal in their hand. For some, it’s the ultimate safeguard against the risk that today’s instability could turn into something far, far worse.
“For some of our clients there is that concern, absolutely, that there could be some breakdown, bank account seizures. There could be some run on the banks,” she said. “So definitely, I think something that makes our clients feel safe is: I’ve got it at home.”
Anthony Herceg, managing director of precious metals distribution for North America at TD Securities, has seen a double-digit spike in transactions of precious metals over recent months. He said it started ramping up after Christmas and has affected silver, platinum and especially gold.
Record prices don’t deter buyers
With gold prices at record highs, Herceg said customers are beginning to buy smaller quantities — fractions of an ounce instead of the standard one-ounce unit.
An ounce now costs about $4,400, after surging almost 20 per cent in just three months. That might be unaffordable for some small-scale investors.
“They still want to invest, so they invest what they can into what they can afford,” he said.
Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, said there’s good reason to think gold prices will stay at record levels, or move even higher.
“If you are of the view that the Canadian dollar might weaken because of the instability caused by the tariff … then gold would be a very good protector of your purchasing power, because if the Canadian dollar goes down, your value of gold in terms of Canadian dollars goes up,” he said.
Of course, small-scale Canadian investors aren’t the main force behind those surging prices, which are set on international markets. Melek said big institutional players have their own reasons to buy gold.
Some are exploiting price differences caused by tariff threats, buying up gold abroad to sell it into the U.S. market. Waning faith in the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency is also playing a role, pushing central banks to stock up on bullion.
But in many cases, the underlying forces are simple — and similar to those driving ordinary Canadians.
“The fear of inflation and tariffs are certainly playing a role in convincing people on the institutional side to look to gold as protection,” Melek said.
