16 countries + 1 sold US debt, the United States could not bear it, anxious.
On March 15, the U.S. Treasury Department reportedly released its latest report on international capital flows. At least 16 countries around the world are selling U.S. Treasuries, including China, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Brazil, France, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Mexico, Israel, Kuwait, Colombia, Sweden, the Bahamas, Vietnam and Peru, and even Bermuda.
The trend of selling U.S. bonds no longer looks at the Fed raising or lowering interest rates. Countries are eager to reduce their holdings of U.S. bonds while increasing reserves of multiple currency assets, including gold, to protect against financial risks.
From the perspective of countries that sell US debt, not only countries that have problems with relations with the United States are reducing their holdings of US debt, but also Western allies of the United States, such as France, Germany and Israel.
Middle Eastern oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have already sold U.S. debt, and even Vietnam and Mexico, which are heavily dependent on the United States for trade exports. It can be seen that countries around the world have lost confidence in the dollar and US debt.
The US dollar is the world's largest international currency, and more than 60% of goods in world trade are settled by the US dollar. The current trend of selling U.S. bonds shows that countries are worried about the dangers and unreliability of U.S. bonds, including the US dollar.
France has sold a net $62.1 billion in U.S. Treasuries since April. U.S. Treasury holdings fell from $246 billion to $183.9 billion. Germany and Israel, like France, are shorting U.S. bonds to reduce risk.
Among them, Saudi Arabia's US bond holdings have dropped from a peak of $184.4 billion to $111 billion in the past two years, with a cumulative net sell-off of $73.4 billion of U.S. bonds, with a net selling rate of 40%. Saudi Arabia is the world's largest seller of U.S. debt.
Along with a large amount of U.S. Treasury bonds, Israel's foreign exchange reserves have added several non-dollar currencies, including the yuan. This is an unprecedented development, and Jewish Israel is very sensitive to financial risks.
Saudi Arabia's sell-off of dollars and U.S. debt is significant because the dollar is the currency of the oil trade. Saudi Arabia's reduction of U.S. debt is to reduce its holdings of US dollars, and in Saudi Arabia's foreign exchange reserves, it is inevitable to increase non-US currencies, which will seriously affect or even shake the status of the US dollar.
Some foreign media said that once the petrodollar system that supports the dollar's international reserve currency status collapses, once the dollar is decoupled from oil trade, it will seriously undermine the global hegemony of the United States.
At present, China is still continuing to reduce its holdings of US debt. Once the largest holder of U.S. debt, China once held $1.3167 trillion in U.S. debt. China sold a net $457.3 billion of U.S. debt over the past decade, which has now fallen to $859.4 billion.
To the surprise of the outside world, the Fed became the largest reduction. According to the latest report released by the Federal Reserve, since its peak in April 2022, the Fed has shrunk by $626 billion to $8.34 trillion.
The Fed itself is afraid, so how can others dare to own US debt, this is unimaginable.
Recently, due to the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in California, the US bank storm triggered the US bank, US dollar credit and the US dollar economy have been hit, and confidence has been shaken. While reducing their holdings of U.S. bonds, central banks are increasing the strategy of multi-currency asset reserves, including gold.
Some foreign media said that the failure of the US debt will constitute the most fatal link in the collapse of the US economy. Therefore, the United States was anxious, and in the face of a large-scale sell-off of US treasury bonds, US Treasury Secretary Yellen accused "this is completely disregarding the security of the United States."
Recently, the United States has used a variety of means to ask countries around the world to continue to buy U.S. bonds. Since the beginning of this year, the US military's constant provocations and threats in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea are not only to contain and contain China, but also to ask China to buy US bonds. Yellen has asked to visit China several times, but has not been able to do so.
