Last year, investors outside the United States accelerated their purchases of U.S. financial assets, but holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds decreased in December.

Last year, investors outside the United States accelerated their purchases of U.S. financial assets, but holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds decreased in December.

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Data released by the US Treasury Department on Wednesday shows that the pace of foreign investors buying US financial assets accelerated in 2025, mainly driven by demand for stocks and US Treasury bonds, providing a strong rebuttal to the increasingly popular “Sell America” narrative in the market:

In 2025, overseas investors made net purchases of $1.55 trillion in US long-term financial assets, higher than the previous year’s net purchase of $1.18 trillion. Of this, $658.5 billion flowed into stocks, $442.7 billion flowed into US Treasury bonds, including medium and long-term Treasuries.

US President Trump’s frequent threats to sharply increase tariffs have raised market concerns that overseas investors may sell off US assets and the dollar. Previously, when Trump pressured Denmark over the Greenland issue, a Danish pension fund warned last month that it planned to exit its US Treasury holdings. The largest pension fund in Europe, the Netherlands’ Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, also sharply reduced its exposure to US assets last year.

But US Treasury Secretary Besenth has repeatedly refuted the “Sell America” notion, arguing that US government economic policies have strengthened America’s position as the world’s preferred destination for capital.

Industry insiders said: “There are indeed recent geopolitical instability factors, so shorting the dollar has become popular. But fundamentally, US Treasuries account for a large proportion of global sovereign debt holdings, and I don’t think this pattern will change.”

Last year’s depreciation of the dollar may have even encouraged some overseas asset managers to increase their holdings in US securities. According to analysts, this was precisely the case after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff statement caused market volatility last April. Data shows cross-border investors fully utilized the opportunity of dollar valuation adjustments to increase allocation to US stocks. Although the intensity was not as strong as during the 2023–2024 “US Exceptionalist” period, a cross-border premium still exists.

US Treasury data indicates that many overseas investors were willing to increase their holdings of US assets last year. In addition to stocks and Treasury bonds, net purchases of corporate bonds reached $327.8 billion. Net purchases of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other so-called “agency bonds” were $112.9 billion.

Main Countries and Regions Holding US Treasuries

In December alone, foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds decreased by $88.4 billion to $9.27 trillion, the lowest level since October. Japan, the largest foreign holder of US government debt, reduced its holdings by $17.2 billion to $1.19 trillion; the UK reduced its holdings by $23 billion to $866 billion; Mainland China reduced holdings by $400 million.

For the whole year, Europe contributed a net inflow of $872.8 billion in long-term financial assets (with maturities of more than one year). The Cayman Islands made net purchases of $277.2 billion, Japan $56 billion, and Canada $84.4 billion.

China made net reductions of $208.6 billion in US long-term financial assets. China's holdings of US Treasury bonds fell to $683.5 billion at year’s end, the lowest since 2008.

The US Treasury Department cautions that identifying the ultimate source of asset holders can be difficult. Some of the largest sources of net purchases are regions renowned for tax advantages, such as the Cayman Islands and Guernsey; others are global financial custody centers, such as the UK and Belgium.

Other Key Points in TIC Data

The US Treasury's TIC data also shows:

  • In December, the net inflow of all long-term securities, US short-term securities, and bank fund flows purchased by foreigners totaled $44.9 billion. Of this, net inflows from foreign private sectors were $32.7 billion, and foreign official sectors were $12.2 billion.
  • In December, foreign residents increased their holdings of US long-term securities, with net purchases of $62.9 billion. Foreign private investors net purchased $55.7 billion, and foreign official institutions net purchased $7.2 billion.
  • US residents increased their holdings of foreign long-term securities, net purchases of $34.9 billion.
  • After including adjustment factors (such as estimated combination investments in US stocks by foreigners through stock swaps), the overall net purchase estimate of US long-term securities by foreigners in December was $28 billion.
  • Foreign residents increased their holdings of US Treasury bills by $9.7 billion. All US short-term securities and other custodial liabilities denominated in US dollars held by foreign residents increased by $12.1 billion.
  • Banks’ own net dollar-denominated liabilities to foreign residents increased by $4.8 billion.

This year’s January TIC data from the US Treasury is scheduled to be released on March 18, 2026.

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