Foreign entities are buying up U.S. real estate while blocking Americans from doing the same abroad, Rep. Pat Harrigan says. He is introducing legislation to change that, in a bill previewed to Fox News Digital. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
"While American families struggle to afford a home, foreign adversaries are buying up our country with cash – farmland, neighborhoods, even land near military bases. These regimes ban Americans from buying land on their soil, but think they can carve up ours," Harrigan told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"My Real Estate Reciprocity Act stops it cold with a 50% tax on every purchase, mandatory disclosure, and protections for the ground we raise our kids on. If Americans can’t buy land in your country, you won’t be able to buy land in ours."
The bill comes amid a slew of legislation designed to address China’s increasing encroachment on U.S. farmland, particularly near military bases. (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The bill comes amid a slew of legislation designed to address China’s increasing encroachment on U.S. farmland, particularly near military bases.
China owned around 350,000 acres of farmland across 27 states as of last year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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As of 2022, foreign entities and individuals held 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, which is nearly 2% of all land in the U.S.
As of 2021, Canada was the largest foreign holder of U.S. land. At 12.8 million acres, Canadian land ownership was bigger than the states of New Hampshire and Vermont combined.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-law-would-stop-foreign-adversaries-from-buying-up-our-country-while-americans-cant-afford-homes