Yes because by buying and holding our debt they both keep our dollar strong and allow us to keep over spending. Without them (buying our debt) we are screwed.

I'd be interested in hearing how much of an impact that has on the US economy since most US debt isn't owned by China.

China is the second largest foreign holder of US debt ($1.17 trillion). That’s still a substantial amount of influence.

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fsreports/rpt/treasBulletin/...

You know they only hold 4-6% of the US total debt, right?

The vast majority is held by US institutions.

In a world at that scale that much debt held by one single entity is massive. Activist investors have taken over large companies on such a small amount.

I'd be careful undervaluing the influence that a single debt holder of that size could have. Plus you are further assuming that that's the totality of their influence and it's likely 2-3* that if you include influence.

I'd definitely be wary if I was going to war (trade is the new war) with another nation.

Can you help me find sources for this? Having a tough time.

From the same article: “As of April 30, 2018, debt held by the public was $15.3 trillion and intragovernmental holdings were $5.7 trillion, for a total or "National Debt" of $21 trillion.[5] Debt held by the public was approximately 77% of GDP in 2017, ranked 43rd highest out of 207 countries.[6] The Congressional Budget Office forecast in April 2018 that the ratio will rise to nearly 100% by 2028, perhaps higher if current policies are extended beyond their scheduled expiration date.[7] As of December 2017, $6.3 trillion or approximately 45% of the debt held by the public was owned by foreign investors, the largest being China (about $1.18 trillion) then Japan (about $1.06 trillion).[8]” of the 6 trillion held by foreigners China has a sixth of it. Followed closely by japan. The point is that if an entity owning 1/12th of your debt decided to start selling it that entities’ borrowing costs would rise a lot which could lead to inflation. Inflation hurts our ability to buy aka purchasing power.