Cotton Warns China Buying Farmland in U.S. ‘Is a National Security Threat’

Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) sounded off on his legislation that would ban China and China-linked firms from buying land in the United States.

Cotton warned that China purchasing farmland in the United States was a “national security threat” that “surrenders the massive strategic advantage we have here in America.”

“China cannot feed its own people. The United States not only can feed our own people — we can feed much of the world. We should never surrender that massive strategic advantage,” Cotton outlined. “We should not allow Chinese nationals to buy up American farmland or to invest in American food and agricultural companies. We should protect those critical assets for our own country.”

“[I]n China, you don’t just get to leave the country or take your money out of the country without government permission and government oversight,” he added. “It’s not like America. You can’t just go buy a farm in Canada, you can’t get a timeshare in Mexico. The people that are coming out of China to buy farmland and food and agricultural companies are doing so because the Chinese communists want them to. This is a national security threat, and it surrenders the massive strategic advantage we have here in America that we are the world’s breadbasket while China can’t feed its own people without food imports.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent