Trump Says Blocking Chinese Ownership of US Farmland Easy to Achieve

During a roundtable on the threat posed by communist China to American farmland, former President Donald Trump said that protecting the land was straightforward.

"We're going to protect it by saying, 'You can't come. You can't do it. We don't want you buying our land. We don't want you taking the land and basically taking it off the market,'" Trump said, when asked how he would shield critical infrastructure in the United States and Pennsylvania from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence..

"The acreage associated with China—or any other country discussed in this report—should be interpreted as a minimum," the report states, noting it did not include China-linked companies in which the predominance of the CCP's influence was not clear.

Trump and many government officials worry the CCP could exploit the U.S. holdings of China-based companies.

National security concerns scuttled plans to sell land near Grand Forks Air Force Base to the Fufeng Group, a China-based firm.

"The department's view is unambiguous: the proposed project presents a significant threat to national security with both near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area," the letter reads.

The Republican presidential nominee was flanked by former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and former Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Both Grenell and Zeldin could have roles in a future Trump administration.

Grenell has been talked up in the media as a possible Secretary of State.

Trump's visit to rural Pennsylvania to talk about China and U.S. farmland came ahead of a campaign rally the same day in nearby Indiana, Pennsylvania.