China, Japan Shed US Debt Holdings in March

Crude oil’s climb above $100 a barrel has battered the currencies of economies heavily reliant on Gulf energy imports.

U.S. dollar bills in Washington on Nov. 13, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Foreign governments, including China and Japan, trimmed their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities by more than $200 billion in March.

In the first month of the war in Iran, central banks defended their currencies amid one of the largest energy price shocks in decades, adding to exchange rate volatility. To fund their currency interventions, these institutions sold off their dollar-denominated assets.