ogey

Trump's treasury secretary (i know its copy pasting wiki but it's good info on his background)

Bessent founded Key Square Group in 2015 with Michael Germino, who had been the global head of capital markets at SFM.[20] Key Square uses geopolitics and economics to make macro investments.[15] Key Square received a $2 billion anchor investment from George Soros.[21] At the end of 2017, Key Square's assets were $5.1 billion.[21][22] Bloomberg in May 2018 reported that Key Square had mostly outperformed rival macro managers and continued to generate significant investor interest.[21] As part of a pre-arranged deal, the firm returned the Soros capital as it took in other assets.[21] Its investors include Australia's sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund.[22]

In 2000, Bessent hosted a fundraiser for Al Gore at his East Hampton, New York, home.[23] He has also donated to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.[24] In 2016, Bessent donated $1 million to Donald Trump's 2017 presidential inaugural committee.[25]

In February 2024, Bessent hosted a fundraiser in Greenville, South Carolina, that raised nearly $7 million for Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.[26] In April 2024, Bessent was a host for a Palm Beach, Florida, fundraiser that raised $50 million for the Trump campaign.[27] In July 2024, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Bessent was a key economic advisor to Trump.[28] He proposed a three-point economic plan for Trump modeled on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "Three Arrows" economic policy.[29] Bessent praised Trump's proposal to implement broad tariffs.[30]

He wants a strong Dollar so he can bet against other currencies? There is really no reason for anyone in the US to be pro broad tariffs other than rhetoric or if it benefits them personally.

If you are a tiny developing country, sure. Wide tariffs and controls on trade would allow for more room for imports that promote development for everyone, but U.S. and the West are not that. Also keep in mind despite Trump's rhetoric about tariffs and controls on trade, he has always been pro-free capital flows.

Any other finance nerd please correct me if I made any error:

Saudi Arabia has a ton of Dollars (because of their trade/current surplus with the U.S.). These Dollars are an Asset for the Saudis and a Liability for the U.S. Fed/Treasury (depending on what form its held cash, treasuries etc).

When Saudis buy this debt, they give their Dollars (U.S. Govt Liability) to China. The debt is a liability of China, not the U.S., they can't freeze it because they didn't issue it. Of course, they could try freezing China's foreign reserves but then China will no longer sell them goods. And the higher than treasuries interest rate is a bonus.

When China pays back, the debt will be slowly converted back to U.S. Govt liabilities (Cash).

Another option would be for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to make US Treasuries more attractive. But this would be self-defeating: it would increase the US government's own borrowing costs at a time when they're already struggling with massive deficits, potentially triggering a recession.

U.S. Government can simply stop issuing debt ("borrowing") to "fund" its fiscal deficits if they really wanted. They don't want to because the interest benefits the rentiers.

This problem still remains though. Dollar holding surplus countries are more concerned after US froze Russian foreign reserves

The most obvious response would be to threaten sanctions against countries - like Saudi Arabia - or institutions that buy Chinese dollar bonds. But this would further demonstrate that dollar assets aren't actually safe from US political interference, further encouraging countries to diversify, compounding the problem.

inb4 massive vulnerability

I thought c/fakenews for a second.

Wipe off their entire external debt, it's the least you can do, Brandon.

He won't do that of course, debt is great excuse for gaining even more control of their natural resources.

it's Lithuania

they didn't know beforehand?

i mean, the natural state of their economy (large trade/current surpluses) means their currency would be in high demand even without them doing much intervening with Dollars, especially given they have tight controls over capital flows.

the big "issue" in the 2000s was the west claiming China was keeping Yuan undervalued and undermining U.S. trade competitiveness. However, because of the way U.S. Capitalists nurtured China and how large of a production hub it is, it was unlikely that even an appreciating Yuan under a flexible exchange rate would have reduced their trade/current surpluses given the high global demand for Chinese goods and lack of production elsewhere.

China abandoned its fixed exchange rate in 2005 and moved to managed float, their currency appreciated (or was allowed to appreciate) over 15%, yet that didn't stop China's rise.

and I believe that is the case still, U.S. can try devaluing all it wants, it will barely dent imports because China is willing to hold U.S. Dollars and U.S. is willing to provide it to them.

i want to see all the paperwork involving U.S. and other Zionist groups that lead to this taking so long.