As global investors grow wary of Donald Trump's dollar, they're increasingly taking the Chinese yuan out for a ride.

Data from China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows that fixed-income assets held by banks outside the country more than doubled over the past decade, jumping to $1.5 trillion, with yuan-denominated assets now at US$484 billion (a quadrupling in just the last five years. That includes $360 billion in loans and deposits, up from just $110 billion in 2020.

This surge comes as Xi Jinping's Communist Party leverages China's status as the world's top creditor to increase the use of the yuan globally. This includes China opening more channels for overseas investors to buy yuan-denominated bonds.

Data from the Bank for International Settlements shows that yuan-denominated lending to borrowers in developing countries increased by $373 billion over the last four years. "The year 2022 marked a turning point away from dollar- and euro-denominated credit and towards renminbi-denominated credit" to such borrowers, the BIS said.

It's all part of Xi's long-term vision of boosting the yuan's role in trade and finance. This is both to increase China's global footprint and push back against US policies China sees as weaponizing the dollar's reserve currency status.

Trade finance is playing a big role in the increase. In September, SWIFT data showed that the yuan's share in global payments had reached 3.17%, up from 2.93% in August.

Though still small relative to the dollar and euro, this marks steady progress in internationalizing the yuan. The Chinese currency is indeed seeing growing adoption in cross-border transactions amid the global economic transition.

As the yuan is gaining prominence, Trump is doing his best to undermine the dollar with tariffs, attacks on the Federal Reserve, and pushing the national debt toward US$38 trillion. Despite Trump's spin about an "amazing" meeting with Xi, doubts abound about his desire to stop hitting the global economy with new waves of tariffs.

This has officials in Beijing quietly and meticulously seizing the moment for a Chinese currency some investors see as ready to fill the void.