Countries that hold a lot of U.S. debt are heavily invested in those Treasury securities. Like, Japan has over a trillion, the UK is sitting on more than 800 billion, and China is around 750 billion.
Defaulting might spark a conflict, but honestly, the U.S. military and financial elites are probably not sweating it since the U.S. military strength is way ahead of most countries combined.
Trump could totally default, and if someone says something, he might just reply, "Who's gonna make us pay?" Before the debt comes due, Trump will likely aim to strengthen the dollar, which means European and other currencies have to weaken. If Russia stays out of conflict with Europe, then the U.S. might just take action itself.
The only chance for Europe and the UK to avoid disaster is to unite with Russia, but that could lead to nuclear war right away. The U.S. will always back its military agreements, and yeah, the U.S. could default. Trump isn’t the type to pay off debts; paying means making the other side stronger, and he wants to be the one in power. Just look at how the U.S. benefitted from Germany being weak after World War II.
Trump built his empire like a tough guy; he has that mobster mentality. He hasn't paid off his debts in the past, and now he’s just running a bigger operation called "the United States." He’s already put the U.S. in deep debt and has no plans to pay anyone back. So, bondholders in the U.S. this time around? Yeah, they’re probably not gonna see a dime. They can go to the IMF, BIS, or the UN... write up some complaints, but Trump isn't losing any sleep over it.
Trump is only going to drawn the USA into more debts without sorting them out until he leaves that will help him and the whole of Republicans to have a fault yo hold the Democrats who will be coming into power next during elections that the democrats where unable to save the USA from debt meanwhile the Trump autonomous regime help the country get into more debts without paying any. However for now the USA is a business tool for trump and his family and the rest of the elites, when they are done reaping the people down they can excuse themselves out.
Additionally, the US military is strong but china has more technology to deal with them, so if you talk about war remember china has more edge or possessions.
Trump does what he wants. He disrespects and threats historical allies, and also change his views and opinions in a matter of days or weeks. He doesn't have any consistency. It's the typical unscrupulous, shameless and pragmatic businessman who does anything to fulfill his goals.
The irony is that he still hide himself behind the image of the patriot who does everything for the country. And that is how he justifies all the inconsistency on his speech and the abuses against allies. His lackeys claim he has to do this, otherwise, US will fall.
However, it's a mediocre mentality which took control of americans these days. USA didn't become the largest and most influent potency in the world behaving like that. First of all, they fought for freedom, independency and liberty against England. Now they apply the exact opposite principles and values to the rest of the world?
What is going to be the difference between USA and Russia/China, after all? The difference has always been very clear to me, but now things start going grey quite fast.
Defaulting on the United States' debt doesn't mean war, because who would dare wage war on the US? Any president who dares to make such a demand would find himself in a US prison similar to Maduro's, accused of terrorism or cocaine trafficking.😊
Although the Bipartisan Policy Center warned that the US could face default between July and October 2026 if the debt ceiling isn't raised, and the US Treasury Department described default as catastrophic, Trump doesn't seem to care (perhaps hoping to pay off the debt by selling Venezuelan oil).😉
United State is full power country supported most strong military make them easily to invasion other country, how Venezuela president imprisoned by Donald Trump I think for other president if want to fight with United State must prepare solid military firstly. I don't know what happen for United State later under Donald Trump controlling for this year must pay debt default has possibility new war invasion or not?
China and North Korea is the difficult country invasion by United State although has strong the military but both countries have nuclear weapon, I think Russia is another Europe country can't touch yet by United State how strong the military but learning when Ukraine ask helping from Trump got rejected.
I know for US political system, Trump is anomaly (system disrupter, doesn't bow to old norm) and actually show how fragile US political structure. From your explanation i assume you read the situation as conspiracy thinker. You describe Trump as rogue president / actor and use default as weapon for blackmailing world population. you see world order as zero sum game like WW II era, US be a winner and Europe collapsed and all happened in the world is by design. But US is country not Trumps company as potus, his authority limited by congress, constitution, market and US national interest.
Don't you need to make everything back on the track first, do not mix two different game on same arena. Talking about default is talking about logical financial system , US trasury bonds (which actually foundation of global financial system). Default even it accidentaly or purposely, US will be the first who get hardest punch. So it is impossible US do suicide, you will wrongly conclude if use military logic.
Do you realize, even US has fantastic debt but, investor still trust and put their money on US. on global economic structure trust is power not weapon. For investor as long as they see US can pay debt and US willing to pay the debt, they will put the money on US.Even US has strongest military power in the world, without economic/financial trust none can save USD and loss its crown as global reserve.
I can not draw line correlation between weaken other currency with continuous strategy to make USD stronger. What make USD dtron is institutional stability, The Fed independency and rule of law. As i said zero sum game is not relevan now. Especially for Europe WW II is super expensive valuable lesson and greatest loss. They will avoid total escalation.
The US can draw money in till the trust into their actions demises.
A few decades to go I guess.
The US looks quite stable if you take away the noise.
The US Citizens might even get their health back.
He could decide to say fuck off we are not paying on any bonds.
But most of those bonds are held by USA companies and people.
So it would crush the USA economies even if every other country said okay we are cool with the default the people and businesses in the USA would be broken.
Se google ai right below:
"Most U.S. Treasury bonds (and overall debt) are held domestically, with U.S. investors, institutions, and the Federal Reserve holding the largest shares, totaling roughly $19.7 trillion or more, compared to foreign holdings of around $8.7 trillion, making domestic holders the biggest segment of the market.
Key Domestic Holders:
U.S. Investors & Institutions: This broad category holds the largest chunk, estimated around $19.7 trillion (as of early 2025 data).
Federal Reserve System: A significant holder, with holdings around $4.7 trillion.
U.S. Agencies: Social Security and other U.S. government entities hold substantial amounts, about $2.4 trillion.
State & Local Governments: Major buyers, holding over $1.7 trillion by late 2024.
Commercial Banks: U.S. banks hold large quantities, with figures around $4.6 trillion in late 2025.
Total Debt Context (Late 2025/Early 2026):
Total Public Debt (held by public & intragovernmental) was nearing $40 trillion.
Debt held by the public was around $30 trillion, with bonds, notes, and bills making up the bulk.
In Summary: While foreign countries hold significant amounts (around $8.7 trillion), the vast majority of U.S. debt, including Treasury bonds, remains within the United States, held by various domestic investors, financial institutions, and government entities.
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So a default would crush USA people.
Maybe he could selectively do a country.
Say "China" if China attacks Taiwan he could say fuck you all this bonds held by you or any Chinese citizen are void. He would get away with that move.
That is quite insightful, good you shared this as I never bothered to look into how the bonds are distributed, but this is important to understand. I thought the ratio of domestic to foreign bonds is quite different.
But I still have a question, if Trump were to void the bonds of one country and its citizens because he doesn't like a particular course of action, doesn't that pose the same risk to the USA as a financial hub as it does to Europe if they were to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine? From what I understand, the Europeans refrained from doing that because they feared long lasting reputation damage in the capital markets.
You can't please all, and you can't piss off all.
The US economy is now on trail to copy China's self sufficient economy.
Will the US archive it before Taiwan, depends on when Taiwan happens.
The main problem is that people are losing their integrity. They don't care about what is ethical and what is not. If nothing works against Trump, he can do whatever he wants. The world should not have allowed the USA to have nuclear weapons as it did with many countries. Or, more countries should start building their own nuclear weapons secretly and reveal about their weapon once they are done. They have to do it to save themself from the dictators. Pakistan is not a rich county, but have you seen Trump imposed high tarrif or wants to have a bad relationship with Pakistan? All the countries will feel the need of nuclear weapons very soon.
Nuclear bombs shortened ww2 considerately, wouldn't you agree?
Hitler's scientist were working on the same thing at the same time, or shortly before.
Obviously the longer the US can avoid the every countries nuclear bombs they'll do so for self preservation.
The debt is huge. Everyone knows this. Around $38 trillion give or take.
They don't have to default in the traditional sense. They can inflate. They can devalue gradually. They can change terms. It's not pretty and it pisses off creditors but it's not the same thing as just refusing to pay.
Military strength is of no importance here. You can't bomb someone into buying useless bonds. The leverage that creditors have is future market access. If the US defaults, then they lose the ability to cheaply borrow in the future. That's an enormous problem for a country that operates constant deficits.
What concerns me more, however, is the casual assumption that the US can simply bully its way through this because of military power. A US default would be bad for everybody including the US. Probably especially the US.
Yes those are countries with strong military capabilities too but then there are probabilities that USA could defeat them to a good extent but china is not likely to be in the list of people to be defeated by USA yet we are not calling for war just like the president of china or prime minister, he said they have invested so much in china that they will not encourage war with them but if anyone wants it they will deliver it. And that is reason the USA will never go into war with them.
I dont know why its way too easy for you to scream war and one nation having to hold all the powers well enough to get over anything and everything but what I would tell you is this, we dont need another war in our world today and it certainly wouldnt be good for anyone. No one is safe where these is war and the nations that are at war right now havent had anything easy for its citizens.