BRICS: China Dumps The Largest US Treasuries in History
BRICS member China dumped a record number of US treasuries and agency debt bonds worth a staggering $53.3 billion. Historically, this is the largest sell-off initiated by China ever recorded and occurred during the first quarter of 2024. The sell-off data comes at a time when the US dollar fell to its one-month low at 104.20.
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China and other BRICS countries have been offloading US treasuries worth billions since 2022. The Communist country has a record of dumping the highest in the last two years. The development indicates that BRICS and other developing countries want to move away from owning US assets in their reserves.
The uncontrolled debt of $34.4 trillion is worrisome making BRICS rely on local currencies and not the dollar. In addition, even a close ally of the US, Belgium dumped $22 billion worth of treasuries during the same period. This shows that even European nations are beginning to distance themselves from the US economy, including selling off bonds and treasuries.
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BRICS: China Aggressively Dumps US Treasuries & Agency Debt Bonds
While BRICS member China is selling US treasuries, it’s massively accumulating gold in its reserves. China and the BRICS alliance are the largest buyers of gold in 2022, 2023, and even 2024. Last year alone, China purchased several tonnes of gold worth $550 billion to its reserves.
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China and the BRICS bloc are moving further away from the US dollar, treasuries, and government debt bonds. “As China is selling both despite the fact that we are closer to a Fed rate-cut cycle, there should be a clear intention of diversifying away from US dollar holdings,” said Stephen Chiu, Chief Asia Foreign-Exchange and Rates Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“China’s selling of US securities could speed up as US-China trade war resumes,” especially if Trump is elected as president. Therefore, BRICS and China are resorting to dumping the US treasuries.