tiny lemmy 

China cuts US Treasury stockpile, dropping to No 3 spot among foreign holders

c/worldnews · u/geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · 156 points

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China cut its stockpile of US Treasuries in March, before its trade war with US President Donald Trump escalated, stepping aside from its position as the No 2 overseas holder.

As foreign holdings rose for a third straight month to an all-time peak of US$9.05 trillion in March, China’s stockpile slid to US$765.4 billion, down US$18.9 billion from the previous month and ending an upswing in holdings in the January-February period, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury on Friday.

Comments

u/avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · 6 points

One reason it's important is because changes in the amount of dollars outside of the US changes the value of the US in exchange of other currencies. As long as the debt is USD-denominated, the US government can always pay it back with the result of the USD value changing (probably depends on volume, speed, and many other variables).

u/Cethin@lemmy.zip · 10 points

Yep. Most people don't know most of our debt is held by US citizens, which is actually beneficial sometimes. The government gets to spend money now and then they pay these people, with interest, in the future. Ideally they spend that internally, promoting more growth. As long as there's growth it's a positive effect.

However, this post (not the comment above) specifies foreign debt holders. For some reason the media only talks about this, not domestic holders, I guess because it sounds scary.

u/Grapho@lemmy.ml · 3 points

Well well well, if it isn't the consequences of our own actions

u/Turbonics@lemmy.sdf.org · 20 points

Thanks. Feel kind of sorry for the Japanese that they have to work 12 hours a day. Only for their government to throw the money into the world's worst Ponzi scheme.

u/culpritus@hexbear.net · 24 points

Japan (1.13T) and then UK (750B)

https://economicsinsider.com/top-15-largest-us-treasury-holders/

u/Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 32 points

lol China is not fucking around. Trump is about to enter the “Find out” phase.