The total amount of Treasury securities outstanding has reached $33.89 trillion and is going to hit $34 trillion shortly. Every one of these securities must be sold to someone, and foreign holders play a huge but declining role:Foreign holders in aggregate have kept their holdings of US Treasury securities roughly stable for the past two years. During the capital-flight panic in 2016, China sold Treasury securities to prop up the RMB. But since Covid, the combined holdings have plunged by 29%. Other top foreign holders:Canada’s holdings ticked up to $281 billion, up by 29% year-over-year, after having hit a record in August:Taiwan’s holdings fell to $231 billion, but were up 7.8% year-over-year.

Source: Wall Street Journal December 21, 2023 00:15 UTC