Introduction

I came across an excellent anonymous article on Facebook today of an assessment of the U.S. that is a MUST read for all visitors to TalkMarkets. It has been severely edited and paraphrased below as follows:

We Don't Trust You Anymore!

The global economy just sent the USA a message: "We don't trust you anymore."

• Some German economists are sounding the alarm demanding back €113 billion in gold;
• Sweden has dumped $8.8 billion in USA treasuries throughout 2025 citing reduced predictability of USA policy in combination with large budget deficits and growing government debt;;
• Denmark has announced that it's exiting USA government bonds entirely, with their chief investment officer stating the United States is basically not a good investment anymore;
• China's been selling USA Treasuries for the last nine consecutive months, dropping holdings to $682.6 billion, the lowest since 2008;
• Japan, the largest foreign holder at $1.2 trillion, is now facing a bond crisis. Japanese 40-year yields hit 4.24%, the first time breaching 4% in three decades. Japanese insurers are liquidating USA holdings to cover domestic obligations.

Then

Here's the context:

• For 80 years, holding gold in New York and investing in USA treasuries was THE DEFINITION of safety. After WWII, Germany stored their wealth in Manhattan vaults. Even after the Cold War ended, 1,236 tons worth €113 billion remained there.
• Conservative pension funds across Europe such as Denmark's ATP, Sweden's AP and Norway's $2.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, kept buying USA bonds because it was the ultimate safety net...

Then everything changed.

Now

• Denmark's $90 billion pension fund AkademikerPension announced complete exit from treasuries. Not rebalance. EXIT. Chief Investment Officer Anders Schelde said "the USA is basically not a good credit and long-term the USA government finances are not sustainable." This isn't Russia or China playing games. This is SCANDINAVIA running for the exits.
• Germany's demanding their gold back. Politicians from left and right are calling for complete repatriation. The European Taxpayers Association sent letters warning: "We are very concerned that Trump is trying to influence the independence of the Federal Reserve."
• The World Gold Council 2025 survey revealed that 43% of central banks plan to increase gold holdings. 59% now store gold domestically, up from 41% in 2024. Only 7% will store abroad, reflecting new wariness of the USA.

What Happens Next? 

When the world loses faith in USA debt - and Trump just took a sledgehammer to it - a massive structural shift in who's willing to finance the USA's spending addiction takes pace and here is what happens next:

• Interest rates spike - the USA government pays more to borrow;
• Infrastructure crumbles;
• social programs die;
• the $38 trillion national debt explodes faster; and 
• those who voted for Trump because he was "good for the economy" will pay 12% interest on truck loans while their 401(k)s burn.

The above is the consequence of the slow realization that the USA pissed away 80 years of economic trust in one presidential term.

The World Is Divesting From the USA

The world Is divesting from the U.S. not because they hate Americans but because the U.S. has become a bad investment - unstable, unpredictable, and unreliable.

• When Nomura Australia's chief investment officer says "The USA has become the source of uncertainty, not the safe haven from it," the game has changed;
• When Congress needs the first comprehensive audit of USA gold holdings in 60 years because of "legitimate questions," trust has evaporated;
• When Germany receives freshly cast gold bars instead of their original deposits, people wonder if the USA even has the gold it claims.

Bottom Line

The big question now is "Will the next government have the backbone to rebuild what Trump demolished - to restore trust that took 80 years to build and less than 12 months to destroy? Unfortunately, I bet they they won't, Once that trust is gone, it doesn't come back. Welcome to the baptism of fire. The surgery has begun - and it's going to hurt like hell.