The world started talking tough... but the money showed up anyway...
This past year has been America's biggest test yet as the center of the economic world.
It started about a year ago, a little after President Donald Trump took office for the second time. He began aggravating allies and adversaries alike with massive tariff threats.
They were broader and much more aggressive than most expected... even hitting longstanding trade partners in Europe and Asia.
The news spurred a "sell America" trade movement that was supposed to punish the U.S. And the first month was a promising start to prove America isn't immune to pressure.
Foreign investors turned into net sellers of both U.S. Treasurys and equities. Apollo Global Management estimates they pulled roughly $50 billion from U.S. markets in April 2025.
By some measures, it was the largest monthly divestment from U.S. capital markets in more than a decade. After that, though, the movement got quiet.
International perception of the U.S. has gotten worse. But as you'll see, that sentiment doesn't seem to be showing up in the numbers...
The rhetoric turned colder – even as the money flows got hotter...
International perception of America has plummeted. According to the Financial Times, it's down from roughly 60% favorability in the 2010s to just above 35% last year.
But international investors seem to be saying one thing, then doing the exact opposite.
When policy tensions flare, selling a visible U.S. asset can signal displeasure without a press conference. That has been the approach for many overseas allies.
Bloomberg pointed to the Greenland pressure campaign as one catalyst... with a Danish pension fund warning it planned to exit U.S. Treasurys.
And the Netherlands' largest pension fund, Stichting Pensioenfonds, sold approximately €10 billion of U.S. Treasurys... opting instead for the perceived stability of German government bonds.
Meanwhile, the dollar has depreciated. It hit a four-year low in late January...
Based on these developments, it seems like "sell America" is gaining ground. But we thought the same thing last year.
And it didn't amount to much...
The 2025 'Sell America' movement soon snapped right back into 'buy America'...
After last April's shock, foreign capital surged back into the U.S. market. May alone saw nearly $350 billion in inflows... followed by another $200 billion in June.
In other words, the so-called "sell America" trade lasted about a month.
The contradiction is even more stark when you look at U.S. Treasury Department numbers. Overseas investors bought a net $1.55 trillion of long-term U.S. financial assets in 2025. That's up from $1.18 trillion the year before.
Europe accounted for $874 billion of inflows alone, even as it threatened to dump Treasurys. Japan and Canada bought $56 billion and $84 billion, respectively.
So the volume of complaints about America rose... while foreigners poured record cash into U.S. financial assets.
Talk about two diverging trends.
Follow the money, not the headlines...
We don't see much merit in the "sell America" story. The American markets remain the most liquid on Earth. And the U.S. remains one of the world's major tech hubs.
Folks are disparaging the U.S. for political reasons. But it hasn't stopped the money from flowing so far.
We doubt this year will be much different.
Regards,
Joel Litman
February 25, 2026
