At 4 p.m. local time on April 17, the U.S. Treasury Department released the latest balance of U.S. Treasury bonds held by various countries: the three countries with the most U.S. bonds are still Japan, China and the United Kingdom.
Japan has again increased its purchases of US Treasury bonds by $16.4 billion. The United Kingdom also increased its holdings of US Treasuries by $9.6 billion. China, on the other hand, reduced its holdings for the second month in a row, selling another $22.7 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. Looking at this posture, Britain soon overtook China to become the second largest holder of US Treasury bonds. In addition to these three major creditor countries, there are many overseas supporters of the US Treasury bonds. The top three countries that buy more U.S. Treasuries are Luxembourg, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, the Cayman Islands and France.
Of all the 10 U.S. foreign economies with the largest holdings of U.S. Treasuries, four reduced their holdings and six increased their holdings in March. All U.S. foreign Treasury investors hold a combined $7.97 trillion in U.S. Treasuries. It is less than one-quarter of the total U.S. Treasury debt, and the majority is still domestic investors.