As U.S. President Donald Trump escalates his tariff war on the world, gold has been rallying alongside it to a series of record highs.

The precious metal hit a new peak of $3,245.28 an ounce on April 11 and has gained 28% since bottoming out at $2,536.71 on Nov. 14, shortly after Trump's victory that returned him to the White House to begin his second term in January.

In some ways, gold is doing what it's supposed to do. It's offering investors a safe haven from the chaos that has engulfed many financial markets since Trump's ill-fated "Liberation Day" tariff announcement on April 2.

The imposition of sweeping tariffs on most of the U.S.'s trading partners, with false claims that the tariffs are reciprocal, has sent equities, bonds and some commodities into a tailspin. Trump's 90-day partial tariff cut to 10% for every country, in addition to the 145% currently imposed on China, has largely failed to ease tensions and provide the stability that financial markets have generally sought. The uncertainty has also raised some serious questions about the role of U.S. Treasury bonds as a major safe-haven asset, with investors wondering whether that role is being undermined by Trump's tariffs. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield posted its biggest weekly gain in more than two decades last week, ending at 4.478% on April 11, up 8.6 basis points. Tensions over the role of the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency and U.S. Treasury bonds as a safe-haven asset have undoubtedly been positive for gold. (Newsmaker23)

Source: Reuters