America’s biggest foreign creditors have become reticent to finance the U.S. government and are dumping their stakes as a result of political uncertainty, Bloomberg News reports. Investors in Japan—the largest holder of U.S. Treasuries—have culled their stakes in what has been considered to be the world’s safest investment by more than anyone else has in four years, according to figures provided by Japan’s ministry of finance. But it’s not just Tokyo. Bloomberg reports that governments and investors across Europe and Asia aren’t interested in tangling with the $13.9 trillion U.S. Treasury market as it currently stands, with interest rates set to rise and a possible increase in inflation under a Trump administration. “It may be more difficult than usual for Japanese to invest in Treasuries and the dollar this year because of political uncertainty,” said Kenta Inoue, chief strategist for overseas bond investments, who works at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. “Treasury yields may rise rapidly again in the near future, which will continue to discourage them from buying aggressively.” According to Treasury figures, foreigners hold $5.94 trillion, or roughly 43 percent of the U.S. government debt market.
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