China cannot easily weaponise its holdings of American government debt

AN OLD SAYING: if you owe the bank $100 it’s your problem; if you owe $100m it’s the bank’s. The adage is silent on debts like America’s to China, of more than $1.1trn. The IOU looks like a source of leverage for China’s leadership—a reason for President Donald Trump to be cautious in waging trade war, lest his counterpart, Xi Jinping, command the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) to dump its Treasury bonds and plunge America into a fiscal crisis. An editorial on May 29th in the People’s Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, suggested that China might restrict exports to America of rare earths, which are used in smartphones, electric vehicles and much more. Seen against fresh threats, the $20bn-worth of long-term bonds China sold in March might seem a shot across the bow. Yet China’s bond pile is more blunderbuss than laser-guided missile. It is as likely to miss or blow up as to strike its target.