China walks away from US summit with the upper hand

Sep 26, 2026

The US-China meeting produced nothing concrete, and that's bad news for the US economy as bond yields climb and China keeps dumping Treasuries.

  • The summit ended with only a trade truce extension to January — no real deals, no breakthroughs.
  • China holds the leverage on oil: its imports are still far below pre-war levels, so it can flood the market and push prices much higher whenever it wants.
  • US diesel prices hit a record high, and that cost is now baked into the price of almost everything.
  • Government bond yields have pushed past 5.2%, driving a record wave of large company bankruptcies and raising the odds the debt-funded AI buildout stalls.
  • China is cutting its Treasury holdings to the lowest level since 2008 and buying record amounts of gold instead.

Outlook: Unless the Iran conflict winds down or rates fall, inflation and bankruptcies will keep climbing while more central banks quietly move out of US debt.

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