Canada Quadruples U.S. Debt Holdings Amid Trade War

The Treasury Board of Canada quadrupled its holdings of United States debt securities over a five-year period, amassing nearly $600 billion in U.S. Treasuries and bonds backed by federal housing agencies. This aggressive buildup of assets occurred during a period of severe diplomatic and economic friction between the two nations.

Analysis from Vitaliy Liberman of DoubleLine indicates that Canada increased its position despite a widespread boycott of U.S. goods. This boycott was a response to zero-sum trade policies and a tit-for-tat tariff war implemented by Donald Trump. The data shows a stark divergence between Canada's trade-level hostilities and its financial strategy of accumulating U.S. sovereign debt.