Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Foreign Adversaries From Buying Land

The bill targets foreign adversary nations such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, which all have their own laws restricting foreign ownership of land.

(L-R) U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) speaks as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) looks on during a news conference following a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, at the Republican National Committee office on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 25, 2025. Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) introduced a bill on May 22 that would ban noncitizens from buying land in the United States if Americans are prohibited from doing so in their home country.

“While American families are being priced out of their own communities, hostile regimes are buying land with cash and zero accountability,” Harrigan said in a statement. “If Americans can’t buy land in your country, you don’t get to buy land in ours. It’s common sense and long overdue.”

The bill targets foreign adversary nations such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, which all have laws restricting foreign ownership of land, explicitly banning foreign ownership of farmland, and other requirements regarding real estate.

For example, according to the Library of Congress, China allows foreign residents to buy real estate if they have resided locally for a certain length of time and meet other requirements. Iran allows foreign residents to buy real estate for personal or business use.

Harrigan said foreign adversaries have exploited loopholes to purchase U.S. farmland and property near critical infrastructure while banning Americans from buying land in their countries, creating a “double standard.”

The bill, titled the Real Estate Reciprocity Act, also adds a 50 percent tax on other real estate purchases by citizens and entities of foreign adversary nations, exempting refugees accepted by the United States and public companies regularly traded on U.S. exchanges.

Revelations of Chinese purchases of farmland led lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle to call on agencies to review and potentially block future sales in recent years. Concerns had heightened with reports that the farmland was disproportionately located near military sites.

In the U.S. Agriculture Department’s latest foreign holdings report, foreign persons held 45 million acres of agricultural land as of Dec. 31, 2023, representing 3.5 percent of private farmland and 2 percent of all land in the United States. Canadian investors owned the most foreign-held land at 33 percent, with the Netherlands coming in second at 11 percent and the UK at 6 percent.

Foreign investors from adversarial nations—China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia—represented less than 1 percent, according to the report, with Chinese investors holding 277,336 acres and North Korea none.

Five Chinese companies made up the vast majority—94 percent—of farmland holdings: Murphy Brown LLC (Smithfield Foods) with 89,218 acres, Brazos Highland Properties with 86,994 acres, Murphy Brown of Missouri (Smithfield Foods/WH Holdings) with 43,091 acres, Harvest Texas LLC with 29,705 acres, and U.S. Agri-Chemicals Corp. with 11,263 acres.

States that have seen the most Chinese investment in farmland have introduced measures to block future investment.

Texas, where Chinese firms hold the most U.S. farmland with 123,708 acres, has passed similar legislation to prohibit citizens from foreign adversary nations from owning property if they are determined to be acting as an agent on behalf of those countries.

North Carolina, with 44,263 acres held by Chinese companies, introduced legislation in 2023 and 2025 to block foreign ownership of farmland by adversarial nations near sensitive sites. It is now undergoing committee review.

In Missouri, which has 42,905 acres held by Chinese companies, the governor in 2024 issued an executive order limiting foreign ownership of land to 1 percent of the state’s farmland. In March, a judge issued a $24 billion judgment in a case the Missouri attorney general brought against the Chinese regime for its role in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current attorney general, Andrew Bailey, said he may seize Chinese-owned assets to collect on the judgment.

Utah, where Chinese firms hold 33,035 acres of farmland, in 2024 signed a law to block land purchases by entities owned or majority controlled by China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia.

Florida, where Chinese firms hold 12,798 acres, was one of the earlier states to introduce legislation. In 2023, it enacted a law that blocked Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate or land. The law was challenged in court and upheld in a Florida court, but overturned by a federal appeals panel that ruled the law’s basis of “alien” status was unconstitutional.