Foreign investors poured more than a trillion into long-term US assets in 2025, defying the “sell America” narrative
Foreign investors didn’t “sell America” in 2025 — they bought in harder than ever.
According to Bloomberg, overseas investors snapped up a net US$1.55tn of long-term US financial assets in 2025, up from US$1.18tn in 2024, with US$658.5bn going into equities and US$442.7bn into Treasuries.
At the equity level, foreign investors bought US$720.1bn of US stocks on a net basis, more than double the US$307.5bn they purchased in 2024, despite constant noise about tariffs, geopolitics and “Sell America”.
Bloomberg says Norway, Singapore and South Korea ranked among the biggest equity buyers, while mainland China went the other way, remaining a net seller of US stocks for a third straight year and cutting broader long-term US exposure by US$208.6bn.
China’s Treasury holdings fell to US$683.5bn, the lowest since 2008, after regulators in Beijing reportedly urged institutions to rein in US Treasury positions because of concentration risk and volatility.
For Canadians, the pivot is notable.
Bloomberg reports that Canada, which was the largest seller of US stocks in 2024, became a net buyer in 2025, adding US$10.6bn in US equities and US$84.4bn in total long-term US assets, even as Canadians expressed anger over trade policies and threats to the country’s sovereignty.
This buying came against a weaker US dollar and rising policy uncertainty.
Geoff Yu, senior macro strategist at BNY, wrote that cross-border investors “took full advantage of the adjustment in dollar valuation to add to US equity exposure” after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement jolted markets.
At the same time, Bloomberg notes that the S&P 500 returned 16 percent in 2025 but still trailed the MSCI World Ex‑US by 13 percentage points.
Looking ahead, the macro backdrop could get more unusual.
A Financial Times column by the chief executive and chief investment officer of Richard Bernstein Advisors argues that in 2026 the US Federal Reserve may cut rates despite strong nominal growth and a weaker dollar — a combination the writer says has “never happened in modern US economic history”.
The column points out that nominal GDP in the latest quarter topped 8 percent, and that the DXY dollar index is down about 10 percent over the past year, raising the prospect of a de facto “weak dollar” regime.
For portfolio construction, the same Financial Times piece highlights two areas: non‑US stocks and dividend payers.
US investors remain heavily underweight non‑US equities, even though these markets make up about 40 percent of the MSCI All‑Country World Index.
When comparing MSCI ACWI ex US with MSCI US, non‑US stocks show similar earnings growth, roughly double the dividend yield (2.5 percent versus 1.2 percent) and lower valuations (18 times versus 26 times trailing earnings).
According to the Financial Times, the column also points to “shorter duration” equities — often higher‑dividend names less sensitive to rate moves.
It notes that the S&P Dividend Aristocrat Index has delivered total returns over the past 25 years that are “neck‑and‑neck” with the tech‑heavy Nasdaq, but with much lower volatility.
