Who owns the most US bonds?
Rather the Social Security Administration and federal pensions hold it on their behalf. That's almost $7 trillion of the $34 trillion the federal government owes. The next largest debt holder is Japan's government at $1 trillion, then China's government at almost $800 billion.
Of the total held by foreign countries, Japan and Mainland China held the greatest portions, with China holding 797.7 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. securities. Other foreign holders included oil exporting countries and Caribbean banking centers.
1 Foreign governments hold a large portion of the public debt, while the rest is owned by U.S. banks and investors, the Federal Reserve, state and local governments, mutual funds, pensions funds, insurance companies, and holders of savings bonds.
U.S. Treasury Bonds
In fact, Japan is by far the largest foreign owner of U.S. treasury securities, with Japanese banks, pension funds, insurance companies etc. holding a total of $1.138 trillion at the end of 2023.
Of the $33T of debt, roughly 78% is owned by the public (70% US vs 30% International). The major US public owners include the FED ($6T, but they are no longer buyers), mutual funds, banks, states, pension funds and insurance companies.
China is one of the United States's largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. 1 However, it does not own the most U.S. debt of any foreign country. Nations borrowing from each other may be as old as the concept of money.
The United States pays interest on approximately $850 billion in debt held by the People's Republic of China. China, however, is currently in default on its sovereign debt held by American bondholders.
If China (or any other nation that has a trade surplus with the U.S.) stops buying U.S. Treasuries or even starts dumping its U.S. forex reserves, its trade surplus would become a trade deficit—something which no export-oriented economy would want, as they would be worse off as a result.
Beijing, vigilant in the protection of its overseas assets, has slashed its holdings of US Treasury bills by 25 per cent since early 2021 to the tune of USD 280 billion.
With $1.1 trillion in Treasury holdings, Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt. Japan surpassed China as the top holder in 2019 as China shed over $250 billion, or 30% of its holdings in four years.
Does Warren Buffett own any bonds?
It seems that Buffett has softened his stance. Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio includes a significant amount of short-term bonds, despite its leader's infamous public position. Speaking to CNBC's Becky Quick on Aug. 3, 2023, Buffett admitted: “Berkshire bought $10 billion in U.S. Treasurys last Monday.
Buffett takes an entirely different approach. Berkshire held more than $360 billion of stocks, $167 billion of cash (mostly Treasury bills), and just $24 billion of bonds at the end of 2023. Nearly all those investments were held at its insurance unit.
Warren Buffett is often considered the world's best investor of modern times.
[2] A report by the credit rating agency S&P Global in 2022 estimated that 79 per cent of corporate debt in China was owed by SOEs (the IMF does not break down the proportion of debt owed by SOEs).
Among other countries, Japan and China have continued to be the top owners of US debt during the last two decades. Since the dollar is a strong currency that is accepted globally, holding a substantial amount of US debt can be beneficial.
The public includes foreign investors and foreign governments. These two groups account for 30 percent of the debt. Individual investors and banks represent 15 percent of the debt. The Federal Reserve is holding 12 percent of the treasuries issued.
The value of U.S. Treasury securities held by residents of Russia amounted to 33 million U.S. dollars in June 2023, the lowest over the period under consideration. Furthermore, in March 2020, the figure decreased sharply to 3.85 billion U.S. dollars, down from 12.6 billion U.S. dollars one month prior.
China owns 384,000 acres of American agricultural land. That's a 30% increase just since 2019. And on top of that, they own land near an air force base in North Dakota.
In the latest reports, Russia National Government Debt reached 285.4 USD bn in Dec 2023. The country's Nominal GDP reached 494.7 USD bn in Mar 2023.
Debt as a share of GDP has risen to about the same level as in the United States, while in dollar terms China's total debt ($47.5 trillion) is still markedly below that of the United States (close to $70 trillion). As for non-financial corporate debt, China's 28 percent share is the largest in the world.
Does any country owe the US money?
China owes the United States $1.3 trillion, which is the most debt out of all the countries that are its debtors. Japan was the primary debt holder until 2008, but now comes in second place, with $1.2 trillion. Other countries with outstanding U.S. debt include Russia, India and South Korea.
At this time only four countries, discussed below, owe the U.S. government debts of any size arising from World War II programs to aid our allies. Other countries have paid their debts in full.
If China “dumped” USA treasuries, they would take a serious monetary loss. The price of the treasuries would drop, effective raising the return for those who bought the bonds.
China sells the most US assets in 4 years, dumping $21 billion of US stock and Treasury bonds.
Li Daokui has estimated that local Chinese authorities had by 2020 run up a much bigger tally of debt than previously realized, at some 90 trillion yuan ($12.6 trillion). Most of this debt came from building infrastructure, much of which is unlikely to generate revenues sufficient to pay off the obligations.
