China Is Quietly Walking Away From America’s Debt...
While Washington throws tariffs, Beijing buys gold and builds the exit door
If your biggest customer starts backing away from you every single month…
you don’t have a “strategy.”
You have a problem.
And right now, America’s biggest lender is heading for the parking lot.
Quietly.
Deliberately.
No press conference.
Just math.
China has now sold U.S. Treasury bonds nine months in a row.
Their holdings have dropped to $682.6 billion… the lowest level since 2008.
That’s a 17-year low.
Back in 2013, they held $1.32 trillion.
Today? Almost half that.
Down 47% from the peak.
That’s not portfolio tinkering.
That’s someone packing boxes.
Here’s the part most people miss
While they’re dumping U.S. debt…
They’re buying gold.
Relentlessly.
14 straight months of gold purchases.
Reserves now sit around…
74 million ounces
roughly 2,300+ tonnes
worth $300–$390+ billion depending on price
Gold now makes up 8.5% of China’s reserves, up from 5.5% just a year earlier.
That’s not “diversifying.”
That’s a seatbelt.
Because gold can’t be…
frozen
sanctioned
seized
or weaponized politically
Treasuries can.
After the West froze Russia’s reserves in 2022, every country on Earth quietly asked…
“Wait… they can do that to us too?”
Gold suddenly looks like financial sovereignty.
Meanwhile in Washington…
Tariffs.
Big ones.
Trump’s trade war cranked duties on Chinese goods up to 145%.
China hit back with 125% on U.S. products.
That’s Great Depression–level territory.
Economic cage match stuff.
But here’s the twist…
It didn’t break China.
It pushed them to reduce exposure to the U.S. altogether.
If someone is actively punching you in the face…
Why would you keep lending them money?
Exactly.
The side effects are already showing
A few uncomfortable numbers…
China’s goods trade surplus passed $1 trillion
U.S.-China exports dropped 40% year over year
Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. down 72,000
U.S. trade deficit up 94%
Foreign investment into U.S. equities down 62.5%
So instead of “bringing jobs home,”
the world is simply…
trading around America.
Like water flowing around a rock.
Markets always find another path.
The bigger picture nobody wants to say out loud
For 80 years, the U.S. dollar has been king.
That gave America what economists politely call an “exorbitant privilege.”
Translation…
They could borrow endlessly…
print endlessly…
and everyone else just held the paper.
But when your largest creditor starts selling month after month…
that privilege gets wobbly.
Not overnight collapse.
More like a slow leak.
Air hissing out of the tire while politicians argue about who’s driving.
My plain-spoken take…
This isn’t panic.
It’s positioning.
China isn’t attacking the dollar.
They’re building a lifeboat.
Less Treasuries.
More gold.
More trade with Asia, Africa, Latin America.
Less dependence on Washington.
Smart?
Cold?
Strategic?
All three.
And if you step back…
it looks less like a trade war…
and more like a quiet divorce.
No shouting.
Just moving money out while nobody’s watching.
The Bottom line…
When your banker starts selling your IOUs every month…
you don’t have leverage.
You have vulnerability.
And right now?
China’s slowly closing the account.
The Recap…
China just hit a 17-year low in U.S. debt holdings.
Nine straight months of selling.
At the same time they’re hoarding gold like it’s 1933.
This isn’t “rebalancing.”
It’s an exit plan.
The Gut Punch…
When your lender starts buying gold instead of your bonds… they’re not investing — they’re escaping.
Source credit:
Data compiled from U.S. Treasury TIC reports and analysis discussed by House of El (YouTube).
Canada Strong Movement… House Rule & Disclosure
Canada Strong exists to defend Canadian sovereignty, democratic norms, and economic independence… without imported talking points or borrowed outrage.
House rule… Facts and good-faith discussion are welcome. I use AI tools to help turn my spoken drafts into clear writing. I’m 73, my hands shake, and I type with two fingers… so I speak first, then edit.
The ideas, positions, and final message are mine.
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One of my new Substack Favorites, I respect your knowledge, thank you!!!
Fantastic! Clean and succinct!