Clinton’s argument was that since the U.S. budget deficit was, to a significant extent, funded by Chinese purchases of U.S. Treasury bills, China was effectively America’s banker, and she asked, “How do you get tough on your banker?”8 Clinton’s analysis of the leverage China’s ownership of U.S. Treasuries gave to Beijing was disputed by many economists, who argued that a mass sale of the bills by the Chinese would damage their own interests by driving down the value of China’s savings. But the broader point about the political consequences of shifting economic power was hard to dispute. A
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