Secretary Brooke Rollins outlines plan to tackle threats from China and other adversaries on American farmland on July 8, 2025. (Tom Williams/Getty)
"For them, agricultural lands and our farms, because they are a previous inheritance, are weapons to be turned against us," she continued. "We see it again and again, from Chinese communist acquisition of American farmland to criminal exploits of our system of agriculture, to the theft of operational information required to work the land and beyond. All of this takes what is profoundly good and turns it toward evil purposes."
Rollins was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
"As someone who's charged with leading the Defense Department, I want to know who owns the land around our bases and strategic bases and getting an understanding of why foreign entities, foreign companies, foreign individuals might be buying up land around those bases," Hegseth said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, on May 9, 2024. The National Farm Security Action Plan calls for a ban on the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)
"And I've watched for decades as evil foreign governments, including China, have come into this country, and they have stolen our intellectual property. They've manipulated their currency, they've treated us unfairly in trade deals. They've come in and purchased up our processing companies, stolen our genetics," she continued.
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Numerous states have laws on the books restricting land purchases by those with ties to China and other foreign adversaries. In 2021, over 383,000 acres had ties to China, but the number has dipped in recent years, according to Agriculture Dive.
Cameron Arcand is a politics writer at Fox News Digital in Washington D.C. Story tips can be sent to Cameron.Arcand@Fox.com and on Twitter: @cameron_arcand
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-administration-moves-decisively-block-china-from-weaponizing-american-farmland