>You mean the Chinese government will stop protecting their currency and hurt their export?
Right. Exactly like the US does right now.
>China doesn't hold enough USD to hurt the US economy
It isn't about who holds the little green bits of paper. It's about who can turn off the wealth spigot.
The US would experience a huge bout of inflation right now if China decided to just float, it's just that China would probably suffer too. Once the US has nothing China wants (soon) they will have no reason to keep giving us a bargain on their imports.