Following his state visit to China, President Trump has reversed his opposition to Chinese nationals purchasing US farmland.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump stated his policy shift was based on market conditions.
“Look, it’s not that I love it,” he said. “You want to see farm prices drop, you want to see farmers lose a lot of money? Just take that out of the market.”
Trump added that enabling Chinese ownership of US farmland is a position carries over from before his first term.
“But they’ve had a lot of land for a long time,” he continued. “Obama did nothing about it. They bought a lot of it during the Obama administration. He did nothing about it.”
Newsweek notes that Trump’s uneasy acceptance of Chinese ownership of US farmland is starkly different from his 2024 campaign language, when he pointed told Chinese investors, “We don’t want you buying our land.” It also marks a major policy shift – last July, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the “National Farm Security Action Plan” to restrict land purchases by Chinese nationals and other foreign adversaries.
“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,” said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in announcing the plan.
Chinese ownership of US farmland is relatively small – the USDA reported Chinese entities possess 277,336 acres, or less than 1% of overall foreign-held farmland. However, opposition to Chinese ownership has noted many of these properties are too close to US military bases, thus opening the possibility of espionage.
Photo: President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at last week’s summit in Beijing, courtesy of the White House
Foolish. Who got to him?
Anyone/anything he could profit from
Take our land back & kick the Chinese out!!!
I am not in favor of any foreign Nationals owning farm land, especially not known advesaries. I also didn’t realize some of the owned land is close to military installations. Trump needs to put and keep US first and secure and this is not how its done.
Foreign ownership of US resources(farmland, mineral rights etc. ) should be VERY limited. Would china or Russia allow us to buy up their farmland? You have to ask the question; why would the leader of our country allow an adversary to freely buy up our resources.
Farmland goes right to the heart of this nation. Our food source should be protected in every way, as being a reliable economic indicator, analyzing trends it is a direct barometer of argricultural profitability.
In other words, other than selling goods, we need to keep our farmland for our Nation.
I do not support China purchasing our farmland. They have a miniscule portion and we should get it back. It should not have much of an effect on our current farmers! I agree with the President on much of his agenda but not this change.
Citizens of the USA should own the farmland, the gas and other minerals that gets sold on the world market. Trump must own stock to these foreign companies or they are giving the Trump party big political donations.
It has been said that:
American Farm Security = Food Security = National Security
I would specify, Economic Security and Independence, in that list.
Reportedly: Of foreign-held Agricultural and Forest Land
Canada controls aprox. 15.35 mil. U.S. acres, which is aprox.
33% of the total U.S. Agricultural & Forest land held by
foreign owners.
Nobody should own US farmland unless they are a legal US citizen! End of story. Food and water are our most important resources. Keep them for us.
First let me state clearly… I’m MAGA, and I support Trump! Having been raised under Mao’s shadow back in the sixties, “I do not trust the CCP” is a major understatement!
I personally would have preferred a lease agreement deal and one that could be inspected for listening devices at any given time. Furthermore, those lands would NOT include minerals or for purposes other than agricultural farming. Anyone found in violating of those agreements would result in immediate deportation and lifetime ban from re-entry. All USDA regulations would have to be followed with stiff penalties of using any restricted chemicals
Any farmland that they then leased would also have to be a given distance away from any military base, and that distance set forth by the base commanders and approved by the Pentagon.
Under those conditions I would not object to the possibility of an agricultural lease for food production only.
We have been lied to and deceived. There should be no foreign ownership of our farmlands. Lease, maybe, but it really is a national security issue. This administration is a total disaster. Very low IQ. Interest rates will get raised in the coming months to address the skyrocketing inflation caused by this “leadership”. You thought it was hard finding a buyer at 6-6.5%. Hope you have some money saved!
For a better overview of Foreign Farm Ownership:
See National Agricultural Law Center – Foreign Ownership of Ag.Land
FAQ’s Resource Library
Per that website:
As of 12/7/2025, aprox. 29 states have existing laws that restrict/regulate
foreign ownership of farmland; List provided.
(Note at least one reg. has an expiration date of 7/2026.)
Also see NALC’s statutes regulating ownership of agricultural land.
See what your state is doing to prohibit/manage foreign ownership of Ag. land
and PLEASE speak up to your local elected officials about your values!
No one should own any of our land except people who are American citizen
PERIOD.