U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) calls Chinese efforts to buy U.S. farmland a threat to the nation's food supply.
On a Tucker Carlson segment that aired Tuesday on FOX News, Newhouse discussed the Chinese buying of U.S. farmland as a national security issue. This comes as the Biden administration has noted that food shortages are a possibility in the near future. Newhouse labels China an adversary and notes that America needs to act to prevent China from exercising control over its domestic food supply.
The segment drew attention to the fact that the Chinese are making a concerted effort to buy American farmland. Tucker noted that, "The three things that matter to any country long term are food, water, and energy, and if you have a problem with those you have a real problem."
Tucker pointed out that while President Biden has been talking of food shortages in relation to Ukraine and Russia as the prices of wheat have recently skyrocketed, the Chinese have been buying up farmland, now owning "more than $2 billion worth of farmland in the United States."
Tucker was joined by Newhouse, who noted that in the latest appropriations bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was told to "come back to us with a report telling us about foreign ownership of agricultural lands in this country by adversaries." Newhouse noted that China would fall under the definition of adversary: "China is a threat to our country." Newhouse also stated that the policies of the Biden administration in this regard are actually hurting the U.S. and helping China.
Newhouse went on to say that he has "legislation that would go a long way to stopping China from starting an agricultural monopoly in the United States of America. I want to preclude the Communist Chinese Government from purchasing agricultural assets in the United States."
The congressman talked of international travels where he has witnessed how a Chinese "foothold" has manifested, and notes that the U.S. should be preemptive in action to avoid China gaining solid footing in the domestic agricultural production of the United States.
Newhouse concluded by noting that there is bipartisan support behind the issue.
On March 28, the U.S. Senate passed the United States Innovation and Competition Act, amending some of the portions of the bill that were first passed by the House and then sent to the Senate for approval. There is expected to be a conference to reconcile differences, but regardless the bill takes an aggressive stance against China and would make the U.S. more competitive against the Asian country while bolstering U.S.-Taiwan relations. The bill's "focus on China" would aim to boost domestic production of semiconductors, increase the frequency of foreign disclosures of U.S. land ownership and screen overseas investment in China.
According to Agri Pulse, which cites USDA data, Chinese investors own a little more than half of 1% of foreign-owned land in the U.S. Land owned by Chinese interests total 190,000 acres and has been unchanged since 2013. Agri Pulse also notes that due to the age of the data and other factors, the numbers may be out of date or no longer accurate.
