Someone needs to take Donald Trump’s phone away because he is on the verge of doing real, lasting damage to the economy and safety of the United States. This afternoon he’s launched into a Twitter rant about the U.S. trade deal with China AND the Chinese building of a controversial base in the South China Sea:
The is a small downtick of Chinese holdings in the U.S. debt, but they are still the largest foreign holder:
The biggest foreign holder of U.S. government debt had $1.22 trillion in bonds, notes and bills in July, down $22 billion from the prior month, in the biggest drop since 2013, according to U.S. Treasury Department data released Friday in Washington and previous figures compiled by Bloomberg. The portfolio of Japan, the largest holder after China, rose $6.9 billion to $1.15 trillion. Saudi Arabia’s holdings of Treasuries declined for a sixth straight month, to $96.5 billion.
In short, China could wreak havoc if they called in our debt. Russia is a key trade partner with China. Who will the Russians stand with? And bashing on China’s controversial South China Sea bases? On Twitter? Donald Trump is pushing into uncharted and very dangerous waters with his Twitter account…..and he hasn’t even taken the oath of office yet. He may do more than wreck the U.S. economy. He may drag us into full-scale military confrontation.
Former President Obama advisor Dan Pfeiffer put it best:
We are so screwed.