China’s $1.5 Trillion Bet

Understanding China’s External Portfolio

May 13, 2009

Report

More on:

China

Financial Markets

United States

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
Brad W. Setser

Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow

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.

More on:

China

Financial Markets

United States

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Immigration and terrorism are indeed linked, but the issue is far more complex than some commentators suggest.

China

Ian Johnson, the Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for China studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how Chinese filmmakers, journalists, and artists are challenging the Chinese Communist Party’s version of history. 

Climate Change

For decades, U.S. homeowners have counted on property insurance to protect them from catastrophic loss if their homes are destroyed—and the U.S. economy has rested on the functionality of that model. But as this summer’s extreme weather broke records, private companies reduced their coverage. As climate disasters become more frequent, can home insurance hold up?