GOLD and SILVER showed virtually no price change on Friday from last week's finish in London despite dramatic political action towards the precious metals by No.1 consumer China and No.1 economy the USA.

Less than a week after the authorities in Beijing tightened control of silver exports from China, the US Geological Survey yesterday added the industrially-useful precious metal to its list of "critical minerals".

One of 10 commodities added to the final "critical" list for 2025 including copper and metallurgical coal, that paves the way for the White House of President Trump to impose Section 232 import tariffs on silver as a mineral "essential to the economic or national security of the US...[with] a supply chain vulnerable to disruption."

Beijing newspaper the China Daily meantime expanded Friday on last weekend's sudden VAT sales tax changes for gold, explaining that "Banks and gold retailers must now link their operations directly with the national tax system, allowing authorities to monitor gold flows and fiscal data in real time."

While prices at the Shanghai Gold Exchange were unchanged from last Friday's finish around ¥919 per gram, China today also approved the launch of trading in platinum and palladium contracts at the Guangzhou Futures Exchange.

The widely-anticipated move will require local stockpiles of the industrially-useful white precious metals, already facing a platinum and palladium liquidity squeeze in major trading and pricing center London.

Yet platinum prices traded in London slid Friday to close the week 2.0% lower at $1557 per Troy ounce, while palladium dropped 4.6% to trade back below $1400.

Trading around $3995 and $48.25 per ounce respectively meantime, gold and silver this week moved in their tightest trading ranges since mid-September.

Gold moved barely $100 per ounce high-to-low, steadying 8.6% below mid-October's record highs of $4381 per ounce.

Silver traded in a $2 range, also stabilizing some 10.8% below last month's record peak above $54 per ounce.

Despite the USGS critical minerals decision raising a fresh possibility of silver facing US import tariffs − as part of a drive to boost domestic production and supply − silver futures in New York continued trading below London bullion prices on Friday, reversing the incentive for huge silver inflows to Comex-approved warehouses seen earlier this year, with the December contract trading 15 cents lighter as physical silver dropped as low as $48.25.

After the lack of metal in London saw huge price volatility amid a silver squeeze last month, bullion stockpiles in warehouses around New York City have now shrunk by almost 1/10th from late-September's peak, but only to what was a new all-time record when reached in March.

For gold in China, last weekend's sudden removal of VAT offsets for jewellery manufacturers and other businesses withdrawing physical metal from the Shanghai Gold Exchange means that "for the first time, the rules formally recognize the difference between financial investment and everyday consumption," the China Daily quotes Zeng Gang, director of the Shanghai Institution for Finance & Development.

"That alignment with market reality makes supervision far more effective."

"We expect this VAT adjustment to have a more pronounced effect on China’s gold jewellery industry by raising costs for consumers," says analyst Ray Jia at the mining industry's World Gold Council.

But while "it also reinforces an existing challenge for jewellers: how to attract buyers in a high-gold-price environment," the move comes as weaker real estate, economic growth and interest rates in China point to "continued strength in China’s gold investment demand" in the WGC's view.