China’s $1.5 Trillion Bet

Understanding China’s External Portfolio

Report by Brad W. Setser and Arpana Pandey

May 2009 , 22 Pages

Download PDF

Report

Overview

This is an update to the January 2009 Working Paper China’s $1.7 Trillion Bet. Download the original paper [PDF].

Brad W. Setser

Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow

Arpana Pandey

China is now by far the United States’ largest creditor. Its treasury portfolio recently surpassed that of Japan’s, and it has long held more agency (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) bonds than any other country. Never before has a nation as poor as China provided so much financing to a country as rich as the United States. In this Center for Geoeconomic Studies Working Paper, Brad W. Setser and Arpana Pandey estimate the true scale of China’s U.S. portfolio and examine how the pace of growth and composition of China’s portfolio have evolved over time.

Explore More on China

Trade

The Contentious U.S.-China Trade Relationship

President Donald Trump’s trade war with China that began in his first administration has snowballed into greater tensions between the world’s biggest economies, but experts say completely decoupling from one another is likely impossible.

by CFR.org Editors April 14, 2025

Trade

What Are Tariffs?

President Donald Trump has begun his second term imposing tariffs against some of the United States’ leading trading partners to correct what he says are decades of imbalances harmful to the U.S. economy. Here’s how these taxes work.

by Anshu Siripurapu and Noah Berman April 1, 2025

Public Health Threats and Pandemics

Fentanyl and the U.S. Opioid Epidemic

Opioid addiction has become one of the United States’ biggest killers, endangering public health, the economy, and national security. But closing the floodgates on fentanyl poses a significant foreign policy challenge.

by Mariel Ferragamo and Claire Klobucista March 28, 2025

Overview

Explore More on China

Top Stories on CFR