China Just Cut Its US Treasury Holdings to the Lowest Level Since the 2008 Financial Crisis

China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell to $618 billion in July, the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis, according to Treasury TIC data carried by Livemint from a Reuters summary dated 16 September 2026 and published 17 September. Wolf Street walked the same Treasury International Capital print. The numbers are a holdings snapshot, not a Chinese government policy announcement or a Fed rate decision.

China's book dropped 2.4 percent from $633.4 billion in June, the lowest level since September 2008, when holdings were about $618.2 billion. That was a second consecutive monthly decline. China remains the third-largest non-U.S. holder, and July holdings were down more than 11 percent from a year earlier.

Total foreign holdings fell a second straight month, to $9.248 trillion from $9.298 trillion, still up 1.5 percent versus a year earlier. Japan, the largest foreign holder, fell to $1.104 trillion from $1.117 trillion, a third straight monthly drop.

Wolf Street put foreign official holdings at about $3.77 trillion market value in July, about 12.8 percent of marketable Treasuries, the lowest share since 1993. Mainland China and Hong Kong combined were about 3.0 percent. The United Kingdom, a major custody hub, rose 6.2 percent to $998.3 billion.

Private foreign holdings and hubs such as the UK and the Cayman Islands cut against a simple story of foreigners selling the market. No official in this print called the China decline a geopolitical weapon, even as related official-flow tape includes the G20 China non-market wording clash.

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