The CCP is a political and economic adversary of the United States, with the stated intention of ensuring China overtakes America as the world’s leading power. Securing and dominating world food supply chains is integral to this goal, so China has rapidly built up its American agricultural assets in recent years. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Chinese investors’ holdings of U.S. agricultural land surged from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020—a stunning 5,300% increase. In total, this land is worth about $1.9 billion. At least 23 state legislatures in 2023 introduced at least 53 bills to impede CCP access to American agricultural land. The bills summarized below have either been successfully signed into law or have innovative features worthy of study.
While agricultural land and real property questions dominated the 2023 state legislative landscape, other bills important to America First policy priorities on China passed as well. Measures limiting CCP purchase of infrastructure, CCP investment in pension funds, and restrictions on education grants, as well as a blanket ban on the TikTok smartphone app in Montana, all became law.
