New York bullion traders have amassed a $82 billion stockpile of gold on fears of Trump tariffs on commodities, The Financial Times reports.

This is one of the drivers that sent spot gold to a record high of $2,790.49 at 10:25 a.m. EST Thursday, the precious metal's record previously set last October.

Hoarding in New York has led to a shortage of bullion at the Bank of England, with buyers now having to wait four to eight weeks for delivery rather than a few days.

“People can’t get their hands on gold because so much has been shipped to New York, and the rest is stuck in the queue,” one industry executive said. “Liquidity in the London market has been diminished.”

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Since the U.S. presidential election, gold traders and financial institutions have moved 393 metric tons of gold to the Comex commodity exchange in New York, increasing total inventory by 75% to 926 tons.

This is the highest level of gold at the Comex since August 2022.

The total amount of gold being amassed in New York could be even higher, if private acquisitions being shipped to vaults at HSBC and JPMorgan were to be included, industry insiders said.

Driving the rush to buy gold is the desire to avoid potential Trump administration tariffs, although Trump has not specifically said he would impose a bullion duty.

“There is a feeling that Trump could go across the board and impose new tariffs on raw materials coming into the U.S., including gold,” said Michael Haigh, Societe General’s head of commodities research. “There is a bit of a scramble among participants in the gold market to protect themselves.”

Another reason for the rush to buy gold in New York is an unusual arbitrage opportunity. Gold is trading at a premium on New York’s futures exchange to London’s cash market. New York and London are world’s the two biggest trading markets for gold, with physical trading taking place primarily in London, and futures trading in New York.

Gold has risen 5% in value since the start of the year and, until Thursday morning, was just $30 short of its all-time troy ounce record of $2,790 set in October.

“The movement of gold needed to make its way into New York — that is basically what’s been driving ‘stockpiling,’” said Joe Cavatoni, market strategist at the World Gold Council. “That is leading a lot of people to say, ‘We want to get ahead of it.’ That is driving the futures market into a premium.”

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Cavatoni does not think, however, that physical gold is in the president’s crosshairs.

“We are not getting a sense from the rhetoric from the administration that it intends to go after the monetary metals,” Cavatoni said.