Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins plans to stop Chinese entities from buying American farmland, signaling new federal restrictions on foreign ownership.
“No doubt people are concerned about this and rightly want American farmland to be owned by Americans,” Rollins told Breitbart News in her first non-trade media interview on Friday.
More than two-thirds of US states have moved to block foreign agricultural land purchases. South Dakota and Florida already ban such deals.
The Agriculture Department has flagged purchases near military bases as a particular concern. Rollins led the America First Policy Institute, which backed state-level purchase restrictions, before joining the USDA.
States serve as “guardians at the gate” against foreign land acquisitions, Rollins said, while her department explores federal action.
President Trump started warning about Chinese influence in 2016, Rollins commented. “People weren’t really talking about China. Not many people, at least, in that way.”
The USDA has not revealed specific plans for federal restrictions on foreign ownership of farm assets.
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