Only if the money is considered as repatriated. I'm not a tax lawyer and the article is kind of crappy in explaining the precise treatment, but it is possible

Only if the money is considered as repatriated. I'm not a tax lawyer and the article is kind of crappy in explaining the precise treatment, but it is possible to purchase and hold bonds overseas (or to hold shares of an overseas ETF that holds bonds in the US, etc etc.) so I'm not sure why this is even an issue, any more than the US would arbitrarily tax the money were it held in, eg, dollar-denominated accounts in European banks. Governments grant incentives to buy their bonds all the time, notably state governments in the US not subjecting the interest to state income taxes. It sounds like this is at worst a provision of the law designed to encourage exactly what ended up happening - more entities willing to spend more money on treasury bonds, at a lower interest rate.