NC’s land is worth protecting. Let’s do it right.

North Carolina is one of the most strategically important states in America, home to a vibrant agricultural sector and unique military infrastructure. That also makes it one of the most important targets for foreign adversary activity.

North Carolina is home to some of the military’s most valuable installations. Fort Bragg hosts the Army’s Airborne and Special Operations Forces and the largest military population in the world. Camp Lejeune is the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast. Cherry Point will soon host the largest F-35B Joint Strike Fighter base in the nation. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base trains every F-15E Strike Eagle pilot in the US Air Force. Base Elizabeth City is the largest aviation and mission support hub on the East Coast for the US Coast Guard.

Agriculture is the state’s top industry at $111 billion annually, and defense follows at $80 billion. Together they define North Carolina’s economy and its strategic importance to the nation.

Pork giant Smithfield, which is owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group, hosts its largest operational footprint in the country in North Carolina. The world’s largest pork processing plant is in Tar Heel, and nearly a quarter of the company’s US workforce resides in the city and surrounding areas. When the Trump administration unveiled its National Farm Security Action Plan, Agriculture Secretary Rollins and senior White House officials called out Smithfield by name as one of the companies they aim to take back from Chinese control.

Nationally, Chinese investors’ agricultural holdings surged from roughly 13,700 acres in 2010 to over 247,000 by 2024. The threat is not hypothetical. A CCP-linked billionaire acquired 15,000 acres of agricultural land near Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, which would have given him access to the state’s electric grid. A CCP food manufacturer purchased land near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, home to one third of our B-1 bomber fleet. Federal regulators said they had no jurisdiction. State and local leaders stopped both deals.

The lesson is clear: Agricultural land, especially in proximity to military installations, is a vulnerability, and the federal government cannot always be counted on to address it.

The North Carolina General Assembly has shown the will to act by introducing legislation to protect strategic military assets and our largest industry. What America First Policy Institute offers is a framework for what strong, effective legislation looks like, drawn from the lessons of states that have already acted:

First, restrictions must be tied to dynamic federal lists, not static lists of adversary countries. The strongest state laws tie their restrictions to designations maintained by the US Department of Commerce, a list updated by federal authorities as threats evolve. A hardcoded legislative list requires the General Assembly to reconsider changes every time a new threat emerges. A law tied to federal designations updates automatically, with a sensible fallback list for continuity.

Also, legislators must recognize that China doesn’t operate like the United States. There is no clear line between government and corporate actors. CCP government ministries operate through nominally private companies with embedded Communist Party structures. Legislation that covers only state-owned enterprises leaves the most common vehicle for CCP land acquisition entirely unaddressed. Strong legislation would include citizens of foreign adversary nations, businesses headquartered there, and businesses in which prohibited parties hold a controlling or significant interest, including entities incorporated in third countries specifically to evade scrutiny.

Meanwhile, federal foreign investment review processes have demonstrated real gaps, the Grand Forks case being the clearest example. Any exemption for federally reviewed transactions should require not just approval but a binding mitigation and monitoring agreement. Approval alone is not sufficient protection.

Finally, any thorough law must explicitly cover mineral rights. A foreign adversary that cannot purchase farmland can still acquire the subsurface mineral, water, and resource rights underlying it. Those rights carry independent strategic value and should be included in any legislation.

North Carolina’s General Assembly has the political will and the moral clarity to act on this issue. The question is whether the law that passes will be one that sophisticated adversaries cannot work around. Indiana has banned foreign adversaries from purchasing all real property statewide. Texas enacted a sweeping all-property ban now in effect. More than 25 states have acted. North Carolina has everything it needs to protect its farms, bases, and natural resources, with laws that are built to be effective on Day One.

“NC’s land is worth protecting. Let’s do it right.” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.