Chart of the Day: China Cuts U.S. Treasury Holdings for the Third Time This Year

China’s U.S. Treasury holdings shrank for the third time this year in June, with the largest sell-off by any country that month amid growing animosity between the two countries.

China cut its holdings of U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and notes by $9.3 billion to a total of $1.07 trillion, according to data released Monday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Overtaken by Japan last year, China remained the second-largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt. Japan increased its holdings by $900 million to $1.26 trillion in June, holding the top spot.

At the end of June, foreign U.S. Treasury holdings amounted to $7.04 trillion, rising $60.9 billion from a month earlier to a four-month high.

As China-U.S. tensions continue to mount, the U.S. government announced on Monday that it would tighten restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., which would completely cut off the company’s supply of chips made with U.S. technology. It also added another 38 Huawei affiliates to an economic blacklist.

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Contact editor Gavin Cross (gavincross@caixin.com)

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