Online posts claiming Canada 'offloading' $400 billion in U.S. bonds are false

Canada and U.S. flags fly in the wind at the Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing, in Surrey, B.C., on March 16, 2020. Earlier this month, Canada's Finance Department announced it issued a five-year US$3.5 billion global bond, a routine occurrence done to bolster Canada’s liquid foreign reserves. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

 DD

In March, several social media accounts made claims that Canada is dumping $400 billion worth of U.S. bonds, with some suggesting the move was in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø goods. The claims are false, and Canada is not selling off its existing U.S. government securities. Instead, the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø government recently launched a five-year US$3.5 billion global bond as a routine move to replenish its foreign reserves. 

THE CLAIM

A first made on Binance Square, the social media arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, on March 11, carried the headline "Trump’s Trade War Backfires: Canada Dumps $400B in U.S. Bonds Amid Escalating Tensions." 

It claimed that "ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø investors and government entities have started offloading $400 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds, weakening demand for American debt." The post had almost 119,000 views as of this publication.

Those claims were later repeated on other platforms, including and .

One X user claimed in a March 12 with a bright red graphic that "Canada will offload $400 billion in US bonds!" 

It added "I don't blame them." That post, as of publication, had collected almost 765,000 views and more than two thousand shares.

RATING: False

The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø government on March 10, 2025, that it planned to issue its latest U.S. dollar global bond. 

Two days later, issued a five-year US$3.5 billion global bond, saying investors included central banks, international institutions, bank treasuries and foreign-based investment funds, "reflecting broad international confidence in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø assets."

Canada's Department of Finance told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø that issuing U.S. dollar bonds is routine for the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø government. 

"Canada is not selling off its existing U.S. government securities," an official said.

The most from the Department of Finance on Canada's international reserves shows that as of March 31, 2024 the government’s reserve portfolio held the equivalent of $46.8 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated sovereign securities. 

That includes U.S. Treasuries as well as bonds issued by other countries in American dollars.

The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø finance official said that issuing a U.S. dollar bond increases the government’s U.S. dollar holdings, as the proceeds are used to purchase additional U.S. dollar assets for Canada's foreign exchange reserves.

For those who invest in the bonds, they get interest payments, and the government agrees to pay back the full value when they mature. As bonds mature, the government often issues new bonds to keep up its reserves.

The official said Canada has issued a global bond every year since 2019 and 13 times since 2009. 

Before this year, it issued a U.S. dollar bond in April 2024 worth US$3 billion. 

"While private sector institutions may adjust their foreign holdings independently, the government’s approach remains focused on maintaining adequate foreign exchange liquidity," the official said.

The U.S. Treasury Department that as of the end of January, US$350.8 billion in Treasury securities was held by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø owners. 

That tally regularly fluctuates. The number is down from US$378.8 the month previous.

The data in that report includes all U.S. Treasury securities held across Canada's public and private sectors – not just those held by the government of Canada.

The U.S. Treasury report explicitly notes that "since U.S. securities held in overseas custody accounts may not be attributed to the actual owners, the data may not provide a precise accounting of individual country ownership of Treasury securities."

SOURCES

Claims on on March 11, 2025 (), and on March 12, 2025 (), and to March 13, 2025 (), on March 15, 2025 () and on March 12, 2025 ()

Chunzi Xu. Canada sells bonds in U.S. as investors shrug off trade war. Bloomberg News, on the Financial Post , March 11, 2025 ()

Government of Canada plans to issue US-dollar global bond. Department of Finance Canada , March 10, 2025 ()

Government bolsters Canada’s foreign reserves by issuing US-dollar global bond. Department of Finance Canada , March 12, 2025 ()

U.S. Treasury report on major foreign holders of treasury securities. U.S. Department of the Treasury . Accessed March 17, 2025 ()

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