The current situation represents the most significant tariff escalation in modern history, far exceeding even the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. While that historical episode provides our closest parallel, today's tariff rates of 104% on Chinese goods and 84% on US goods reflect a level of trade hostility without modern precedent.

Gold rose as traders braced for the US to increase tariffs on Chinese goods to as high as 104%, a move that Beijing is expected to retaliate against as hopes dim that a brutal global trade war can be avoided.