Official data show China is dumping more U.S. Treasury debt. But it may actually be a stealth buyer, with a big stash suspiciously piling up in Canada

China was once the top holder of U.S.

Treasuries but has been shedding its massive stockpile for years, fueling fears of de-dollarization, but official data may not fully capture Beijing’s actual portfolio.

The decline began in earnest around 2021, but as recently as April 2022, China still held $1 trillion in Treasury securities.

U.S. data on Friday show that’s been whittled down to just $591 billion as of August, the lowest in 18 years and down from $700 billion a year earlier.

But the data is collected primarily from U.S.-based custodians and broker-dealers, according to the Treasury Department, which adds that U.S. securities held in overseas custody accounts may not be attributed to the actual owners.

As a result, China watchers have long been skeptical of a wholesale dumping of U.S. assets, pointing to suspicious jumps in Treasury holdings elsewhere that coincide with the steep Chinese drop.

Canada’s holdings soared to $465 billion in August from just $169 billion in the same month five years ago .

Similarly, Belgium’s stockpile shot up to $490.5 billion from $228 billion over the same span.

After including other bonds backed by federal housing agencies, the numbers are even more staggering.

To be sure, China has been challenging the U.S. for supremacy in global finance, seeking to unseat the dollar as the world’s top currency.

U.S. sanctions against Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine further encouraged the People’s Bank of China and other central banks around the world to diversify away from dollar reserves and toward alternative assets like gold.

President Donald Trump’s trade war, which has been particularly focused on China, gave Beijing more reasons to ditch Treasuries and decouple from the U.S.

But at the same time, China has relied more heavily on export-led growth in recent years as domestic demand remains stagnant amid the festering property crash and debt hangover.

So despite the friction with the U.S. and other trade partners, China posted a $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2025—the largest in recorded history—growing three times faster than global goods trade.