Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) have introduced a plan that would ban China and China-linked firms from buying land in the United States.
The legislation, titled the “Securing America’s Land from Foreign Interference Act,” would prohibit members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from buying land in the U.S. just as Chinese investors bought up $6.1 billion of homes and land across America last year. Cotton said in a statement:
Chinese investments in American farmland put our food security at risk and provide opportunities for Chinese espionage against our military bases and critical infrastructure. Instead of allowing these purchases, the U.S. government must bar the Communist Party from purchasing our land.
Tuberville, likewise, said the U.S. “cannot continue giving our top adversary a foot in the door to purchase land in the United States and undermine our national security.”
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) figure reveals that Chinese investors’ holdings of U.S. farmland skyrocketed from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020. Foreign investors now hold interest in more than 37 million acres of U.S. farmland — a region larger than the state of Iowa.
Most recently, a Chinese firm bought 300 acres of farmland in North Dakota which sits just 20 minutes from a U.S. Air Force Base.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.