I've feared for a long time that all the Chinese needed to do was tell Washington that - if we didn't go along with what they wanted - they'd start selling their USA debt at pennies on the dollar. Net result, the US would be unable to borrow to support our deficit addiction and the USA would be forced into bankruptcy...
For all their faults, the Chinese are not dumb...
The problem with that is that the Chinese then only realize pennies on the dollar for their holdings. Given 'just in time' inventory control, they would be better advised to threaten shutting down American retail trade by turning off the product tap.
One of the better reasons for supporting Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign is because it promises to remove our dependence on unreliable suppliers (which, admittedly, it may not succeed in doing).