The U.S. Treasury Secretary claimed, "Denmark's investment in U.S. debt is as insignificant as Denmark itself"; just as he finished speaking, the U.S. President stated, "If such a thing really happens, we will implement significant retaliation."
During the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the U.S. Treasury Secretary and the U.S. President Trump expressed opposing views on the issue of European countries selling U.S. debt.
Compared to the nonchalant attitude of the Treasury Secretary, Trump's response was much more cautious; when the host asked, "Europe holds tens of trillions of dollars in U.S. debt and stocks. Are you worried that they might sell these assets as retaliation?" Trump replied, "If they do it, let them do it. But if such a thing actually happens, we will carry out significant retaliation. We hold all the cards."
Objectively speaking, the sale of $100 million by the "Academic Pension Fund" of Denmark is almost negligible compared to the $38 trillion in U.S. debt, which is also the main reason why the Treasury Secretary didn't take this sale seriously at all.
However, if one digs deeper into the fundamental reasons behind the "Academic Pension Fund" selling, rather than the stated reason of "poor fiscal conditions of the U.S. government," it turns out that this could be a "test throw" or even a form of pressure exerted by Europe against the U.S. government.
In other words, if the U.S. government takes extreme measures regarding Greenland, or even uses this as an excuse to impose high tariffs on European countries, Europe cannot be ruled out from selling U.S. debt or stocks as a countermeasure; in other words, if you go too far, it's a matter of "killing the fish and breaking the net."
Therefore, Trump issued the threat of "implementing significant retaliation," because he understood the danger of Europe taking such an action.
In fact, another point is that Trump wanted to tell Europeans that it is perfectly normal for the U.S. to apply pressure, demand, and impose taxes on Europe. You have to endure it, and don't think about resisting!
In short, the U.S. is repeatedly testing and increasing the tolerance threshold of Europeans.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1855157214816267/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.