China has been buying up large amounts of land in the U.S. for years, but we're not keeping track of it very well. A new report says the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found major holes and inaccuracies in the data on foreign land ownership in the U.S. According to the data we do have, the amount of foreign-owned property in the U.S. rose by 40% between 2016 and 2021.
One of the issues cited in the GAO report is our reliance on self-reporting by the buyers themselves. Gordon Chang, author and China expert, agrees with that assessment. "We do not have the mechanisms to accurately track foreign purchases of American farm and ranchland," he says. "We have heard many stories of Chinese parties coming into places like Oklahoma with suitcases full of cash, buying properties, and not adhering to the USDA reporting requirements."
As for what China wants to do with all of this land, Chang says a big goal is bolstering their own food supply. "China has been targeting foreign land for years, and the United States is an easy target because of our lax reporting requirements, and our open system," he tells KTRH. "China has a strategic goal with these purchases, and we can't assume that strategic goal aligns with what is commercially reasonable."
The GAO report calls for strengthening our data collection and reporting requirements on foreign land ownership. But Chang argues there is an even simpler solution. "No American can buy even a square inch in China," he says. "So, one way to deal with this is to impose a reciprocity requirement---if Americans can't buy Chinese land, then Chinese should not be able to buy American land."
A proposed law in Texas last year would have banned foreign land purchases from hostile nations like China, but critics killed it with claims of racism and xenophobia. Chang believes such a ban would be legal. "The Chinese have no right to purchase farm and ranchland in the United States," he says.
Photo: Tetra images RF