The Carroll Standard

Japanese Holdings of U.S. Government Debt Top $1T for First Time

(CNSNews.com) - Japanese holdings of U.S. government debt have topped $1 trillion dollars for the first time, according to data released this week by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Entities in Japan held $1.0389 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities as of the end of November, according to the Treasury. That was up from the $979 billion in U.S. Treasury securities that the Japanese held at the end of October.

China is now the only nation other than Japan where entities hold more than $1 trillion in U.S. government debt. As of the end of November, according to the latest Treasury data, the Chinese held $1.1326 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That was down from the $1.1341 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities the Chinese held at the end of October.

As little as a decade ago--at the end of November 2001--the Japanese held only $315.4 billion in U.S. government debt, according to historical Treasury Department data. At that time, Japan was the No. 1 foreign owner of U.S. debt, exceeding Mainland China, which then was the No. 2 holder of U.S. government debt with only $77.9 billion in holdings.

Individually, both the Japanese and the Chinese now own more U.S. government debt than all foreign entities combined did a decade ago. ... continued...