U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday that the department would no longer allow “Chinese nationals” and other foreign adversaries to purchase farmland in the United States.
The USDA has already canceled seven active agreements with foreign countries of concern and removed roughly 70 people affiliated with those contracts, Rollins explained.
Her comments came during a press conference alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and GOP Govs. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Jim Pillen of Nebraska and Bill Lee of Tennessee to announce the Trump administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan. The initiative aims to “claw back” farmland that has already been purchased by those seen as a risk to national security, including Chinese nationals, and to give a “more intentional look” at individuals who seek to buy that land in the future.
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“Today we are taking this purpose and our American farmland back,” Rollins said Tuesday. “American agriculture is not just about feeding our families but about protecting our nation and standing up to foreign adversaries who are buying our farmland, stealing our research and creating dangerous vulnerabilities in the very systems that sustain us.”
She added later that the administration would no longer foster “sweetheart deals and secret pacts” with companies.
Rollins also noted USDA is in the process of removing 550 other entities for similar reasons.
“Agriculture supply chain is essential for our nation’s security in coordination with the White House; the departments of Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security and Justice; as well as state governors, state agriculture commissioners, local tribal and territorial governments,” she said.
The move comes months after Sanders introduced a legislative package to ban “Chinese Communist Party-linked companies” from leasing or buying land around military bases and electric substations.
“The Department of Justice will use every tool at our disposal to secure, defend, and protect our AG Community from threats,” Bondi said at the press conference.
Hegseth weighed in as well, saying the Pentagon will keep an eye on land ownership surrounding U.S. military bases across the country.
“No longer can foreign adversaries assume we’re not watching,” Hegseth told reporters.
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