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Former President Donald Trump fought a trade war that benefitted U.S. farmers, scoring higher buys from China of agricultural products.
But China is taking a different tack now, buying up U.S. farmland, and both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have noticed.
“[It’s] leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) says.
Newhouse authored an amendment that was recently included to an Agriculture-FDA funding bill that aims to prevent future agricultural purchases by firms controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, in part or in whole.
Notably, the measure has bi-partisan support. Senator Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has backed legislative efforts similar to Newhouse’s amendment.
Not every pol is aboard, though. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat Representative, complained that the amendment would “perpetuate already rising anti-Asian hate.”
Congress has made other recent moves in response to China stateside economic activity that poses strategic issues. For example, a recent bill addressed the United States’ reliance on China in industries like semiconductors and minerals, which are both key components of the American supply chain.