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Foreign investors seen as unlikely to flee US

Jan 23, 2026, 6:56am EST
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US Treasury.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Analysts and economists downplayed the possibility of foreign investors exiting US assets en masse, in large part because they have few other options.

A Danish pension fund and a major global bond investor said this month they were diversifying away from US bonds, spurring President Donald Trump to threaten “big retaliation” were Europeans — cumulatively the largest holders of US Treasurys — to dump them.

But if European nations did try, the sheer size of the American market means they would struggle to reallocate those resources elsewhere, a former Federal Reserve vice-chair noted on the Foreign Affairs podcast. And a fire sale could end up harming European investors even more than Washington itself, the Financial Times warned.

A chart showing top holders of US Treasurys.
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