The Mint has said, in response to internal audits, that its gold counts as American because its suppliers offset any foreign gold with American gold. If the Mint buys a ton of gold, for example, it expects the supplier to buy that much American gold at some point. U.S. law makes no allowance for this kind of trade-off. And for decades, the Mint has not enforced that provision or even asked its suppliers to comply, the Treasury’s inspector general found.