Foreign buyers have significantly increased their purchases of US Treasury debt in recent months, acquiring a larger share of note and bond auctions. This trend counters concerns that the US’s perceived weakened safe-haven status and substantial deficits would deter international investors, according to interest-rate strategists at TD Securities.
In January, foreign and international accounts were allotted approximately 19 per cent of auctioned Treasury debt, marking the highest proportion in nearly three years, based on a TD Securities analysis of Treasury Department data. Over the past five years, this share peaked at almost 25 per cent in early 2022 before declining to below 10 per cent in November 2024. The US Treasury sells various types of conventional debt with maturities ranging from two to 30 years, in addition to Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).
According to TD Securities strategists Gennadiy Goldberg, Jan Nevruzi, and Molly Brooks, the increase in auction shares allocated to foreign accounts has been relatively broad-based across different types of Treasury securities. This surge in foreign demand contradicts the ‘Sell America’ narrative that gained traction in financial markets.
“The more data we get, the more we suspect that this ‘Sell America’ trade is more narrative than reality,” Goldberg stated in an interview. The ‘Sell America’ trading theme initially emerged in April 2025 when then-President Donald Trump’s announcement of broad-based tariffs unsettled markets. It resurfaced more recently. US Treasury securities are debt instruments issued by the US Department of the Treasury to finance government spending. TD Securities is a financial firm providing various investment banking products and services.
