The US position as a key anchor of global economic stability is coming under closer scrutiny. According to The New York Times, rising public debt and tougher sanctions pressure under Donald Trump’s administration are prompting more countries and investors to take a more cautious view of American assets.
The shift is most visible in the bond market. Yields on US government debt are climbing as investors, worried about the growing debt burden, demand higher returns to hold those securities. This week, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose above 5%, reaching its highest level since 2007.
Against that backdrop, some countries are reassessing the appeal of US assets. The newspaper notes that in September, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s state fund, said it planned to reduce its investments in US Treasuries as it looks for higher-yielding opportunities elsewhere.
Another major issue is the future of the dollar. Nearly 90% of foreign-exchange transactions worldwide still involve the US currency, but the dollar’s share in central bank reserves has been gradually declining. NYT data show that it fell from 64% in 2015 to 56% by the end of 2025.
The paper says Washington has also used the dollar’s special status as a foreign policy tool, imposing tough sanctions on countries including Iran and Russia. As a result, more governments are searching for alternative financial arrangements that would allow them to conduct international transactions with less exposure to the US financial system.
In NYT’s view, neither the euro nor the Chinese yuan is yet ready to replace the dollar. Still, the development of central bank digital currencies, stablecoins and cryptocurrencies is creating new options, especially for countries targeted by US sanctions. Those tools could help facilitate international settlements outside the traditional US financial infrastructure.
China, together with Hong Kong, Thailand, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is developing a platform for cross-border settlements using digital currencies. According to the report, it would allow money to be transferred faster and at lower fees than through conventional banking systems. Some G7 countries and Western financial institutions are also working on a similar cross-border payments system, although that project is at an earlier stage.
Last week, Russia and India also announced work on a plan that would enable central bank digital currencies to be used in settlements for international trade transactions.
At the same time, some countries are increasing their focus on gold. NYT says that in 2025, the value of gold in global international reserves surpassed the value of US Treasury securities held by foreign government entities. That, too, is seen as a sign of growing concern over US stability.
Rising geopolitical tension and Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on European allies have also led some countries to rethink where they store their gold. In September, the Dutch central bank said it had moved about 86 tonnes of gold from the US and Canada to London, citing “growing geopolitical instability” and the need to prepare for possible crises.
In March, the Bank of France said it had completed transactions involving 129 tonnes of gold that had previously been held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The regulator sold the metal in the US and bought an equivalent amount of gold in Europe, with the new bars placed in Paris.
“It feels as if countries no longer trust the US,” Daniel Tannenbaum told NYT. He previously worked at the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and also served as OFAC compliance coordinator at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
