China dumps $22.7 billion in US treasury bills amid deepening strategic rivalry with Washington (2024)

FAQs

China dumps $22.7 billion in US treasury bills amid deepening strategic rivalry with Washington? ›

China has offloaded USD 22.7 billion in US treasury bills recently over concerns over security and a further delay to expected interest rate cuts by the American Federal Reserve, amidst its intensified strategic rivalry with Washington.

Worries over security and a further delay to expected interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve have depleted Beijing's appetite for US Treasury bills, and its position as the second-largest foreign holder of the financial instruments could be taken by the UK in coming months, analysts warned.

If China (or any other nation that has a trade surplus with the U.S.) stops buying U.S. Treasuries or even starts dumping its U.S. forex reserves, its trade surplus would become a trade deficit—something which no export-oriented economy would want, as they would be worse off as a result.

Foreign holders of United States treasury debt

Of the total held by foreign countries, Japan and Mainland China held the greatest portions, with China holding 797.7 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. securities. Other foreign holders included oil exporting countries and Caribbean banking centers.

Since April 2022, China's holding of US Treasury bonds has remained below $1 trillion. The recent cut marked a new low for China's holdings of such assets not seen since March 2009.

"China owns $870 billion in U.S. Treasuries that finance our debt. And they either own or have a huge portion of the Chicago Stock Exchange, AMC movie theaters, General Electric's appliance division, General Motors, and Smithfield Foods just to name a few."

[2] A report by the credit rating agency S&P Global in 2022 estimated that 79 per cent of corporate debt in China was owed by SOEs (the IMF does not break down the proportion of debt owed by SOEs).

China's debt overhang far exceeds the burdens facing the United States. As recently as 2020, total debt in the United States relative to GDP exceeded China's. But as of mid-2022, China's relative debt burden stood 40 percent higher than America's.

Who owns the most US Treasury bills? ›

The largest holder of U.S. debt is the U.S government. Which agencies own the most Treasury notes, bills, and bonds? Social Security, by a long shot. The U.S. Treasury publishes this information in its monthly Treasury statement.

The public owes 74 percent of the current federal debt. Intragovernmental debt accounts for 26 percent or $5.9 trillion. The public includes foreign investors and foreign governments. These two groups account for 30 percent of the debt.

A sizeable sell-off of Treasury securities by China would almost certainly lead to an appreciation of China's currency and depreciation of the dollar. This is more likely to help the United States than to hurt us, contrary to the claims of many observers.

Does Russia still own U.S. Treasury bonds? How much U.S. debt has Russia owned in the past and did the overnight repo market & U.S. bond market nearly collapse in Sep. 2019 due to Russia & China selling their Treasury bonds? According to the US Treasury, Russian ownership of US Treasuries was $2.1 Billion in Nov 2022.

Beijing is buying up gold to diversify its reserve funds and reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar, long considered the most important currency to hold in reserve. China has been reducing its U.S. Treasury holdings for more than a decade.

China has offloaded USD 22.7 billion US treasury bills recently over concerns over security and a further delay to expected interest rate cuts by the American Federal Reserve, amidst its intensified strategic rivalry with Washington.

"With the Fed raising rates and the dollar going up, yield-insensitive central banks have been selling Treasuries to limit the weakening of their domestic currencies, and yield-sensitive foreign private investors have been buying Treasuries to benefit from higher yields and a rising dollar," Slok noted last month.

It was the largest cut since the rate was introduced five years ago, and a much bigger reduction than economists had expected. The move was another step in China's broad campaign to prop up a crumbling housing market and support an economy battling deflation, slowing exports and moribund consumer confidence.

The buyer base for US Treasuries has shifted from yield-insensitive buyers (sovereign wealth funds and central banks, including the Fed) to yield-sensitive buyers (US households, US pensions, US insurance), see chart below.