Here are the 17 countries that hold the most US debt

• Ben Moshinsky
 

• 20h
• 153,894

Reuters/Joel PageDonald Trump.

US sovereign debt is one of the safest assets in finance.

But that safety was called into question this month by US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who suggested that the US could negotiate with creditors and wouldn't need to pay the whole $13 trillion back.

The US Treasury, for the first time since the 1970s, has published more detailed data on who owns that debt, giving a breakdown of Saudi Arabia's holding.

The report gave details on specific countries that were previously lumped together in groups such as "oil exporting nations" and "Caribbean banking centers," according to the Associated Press.

The Treasury showed that Saudi Arabia held $116.8 billion of US debt in March, down 2.5% from February.

Here's how the rest of the world's US debt holders measure up, as of March:

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17. South Korea — $84.1 billion (£57.99 billion).

REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

16. Russia — $86 billion (£59.3 billion).

David Burdeny

15. Germany — $90.1 billion (£62.14 billion).

REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

14. Singapore — $112.7 billion (£77.74 billion).

Edgar Su/Reuters

13. Saudi Arabia — $116.8 billion (£80.58 billion).

Saudi British Relations

12. India — $118.9 billion (£82.02 billion).

Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee

11. Belgium — $153.8 billion (£106.09 billion).

Mihai-Bogdan Lazar/Shutterstock

10. Taiwan — $182.3 billion (£125.75 billion).

Reuters

9. Hong Kong — $200.3 billion (£138.17 billion).

Pasu Au Yeung, Flickr

8. Luxembourg — $221.3 billion (£152.66 billion).

Wikimedia

7. United Kingdom — $227.6 billion (£157.03 billion).

AP Photo / Matt Dunham

6. Switzerland — $230 billion (£158.68 billion).

REUTERS/Pawel Kopczynski

5. Brazil — $246.4 billion (£169.97 billion).

REUTERS/Bruno Kelly

4. Ireland — $264.3 billion (£182.33 billion).

Reuters

3. Cayman Islands — $265 billion (£182.81 billion).

Flickr/katiethebeau

2. Japan — $1.137 trillion (£784.68 billion).

REUTERS/Yuya Shino

1. Mainland China — $1.244 trillion (£857.99 billion).

Reuters

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump just made a new mess while walking back his controversial plan for US debt

More: U.S. Debt Treasuries Features