Still, the sudden advent of China as a major holder of U.S. treasury bonds has clearly altered the dynamic. Some might question why, if these really are tribute payments, the United States’ major rival would be buying treasury bonds to begin with—let alone agreeing to various tacit monetary arrangements to maintain the value of the dollar, and hence, the buying power of American consumers.23
But don't these monetary arrangements benefit China itself? Whereby keeping the yuan weak relative to the dollar means Chinese exports to the US are more competitive? So why does the author consider this a one-sided arrangement that purely benefits the US economically?
