China Dumps U.S. Treasuries as Holdings Reach Their Lowest Level

As tensions have ratcheted up between China and the U.S. thanks to Mike Pompeo’s anti-Communist crusade, China has significantly reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasury bills. At the same time, China snapped up ¥27.7 billion worth of Japanese debt in September. Hong Kong sold $5.46 billion of Treasuries, cutting its holdings to $245.47 billion, the lowest since October 2019. While China still holds $1 trillion of Treasuries, it does indicate a clear marker about China’s concern about U.S. policy and is also something of a safety measure to reduce their exposure in the face of increasing U.S. economic retaliation and sanctions or potential seizure of Chinese assets in the U.S.