Chinese financial institutions have discreetly funneled over $200 billion into a multitude of projects in nearly every U.S. state over the last 25 years, a report by Virginia-based research lab AidData showed on Tuesday.
Chinese Loans Fund Almost 2,500 US State Projects
These projects, which amount to nearly 2,500, range from gas pipelines to airport terminals and have been supported by Chinese state-owned banks.
The report also showed that Chinese banks have been funding major state-level infrastructure projects, such as a high-voltage transmission line from Canada to New York, one of the world's largest data centers in Northern Virginia, and multiple terminals at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Notably, over half of the total lending, $103 billion, has occurred since 2018.
These banks have also extended credit lines to the day-to-day operations of major U.S. companies, including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Boeing (NYSE:BA), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), and Disney (NYSE:DIS).
Chinese banks have also extended tens of billions of dollars in loans to help Chinese companies purchase U.S. firms in sectors Beijing seeks to lead, including semiconductors and DNA analysis.
See Also: America Could Lose AI Race Against China Due To Power Crunch, Goldman Says
US Efforts To Curb Chinese Investments
The Trump and Biden administrations have tried to curb Chinese investments in strategic sectors.
In February, President Donald Trump issued a directive to restrict Chinese investments in key sectors, including technology, citing national security concerns.
In July, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced stricter controls on future Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland as part of the National Farm Security Action Plan. In 2024, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that foreign investors now own over 40 million acres of U.S. farmland, a 40% jump since 2016, with some owners potentially tied to strategic rivals like China and Iran.
In December, the outgoing Biden administration implemented its third crackdown on China’s semiconductor industry within three years, further intensifying the geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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