China Won't Use Treasuries to Warn Trump, Eurasia Group Says

  • Any decision to buy less U.S. debt likely an investment move
  • China has more targeted tools to push back against Washington
A man holding an umbrella exits a pedestrian tunnel in the Luohu district of Shenzhen, China, on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013. Data on home prices and foreign direct investment showed gains last month.

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

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China wouldn’t let geopolitical issues drive decisions on foreign exchange holdings, the Eurasia Group said, after Bloomberg News reported officials had recommended scaling back U.S. government debt purchases.

“While U.S.-China tensions are rising, it is very unlikely that China would slow its purchases of U.S. Treasuries to warn the Trump administration against aggressive trade measures,” analysts for the political risk consultancy, including Asia Director Michael Hirson and Global Strategy Director Karthik Sankaran, wrote in a note Thursday. “We are also skeptical of this hypothesis in the near term.”