Agriculture has traditionally been a fruitful area for China-U.S. cooperation, dating back to the two countries’ resumption of diplomatic relations in the 1970s. Now it is just another area marked by Sino-American distrust, as Washington hunts Chinese agriscience “spies” and Beijing races to reduce reliance on U.S. farm exports.
Illustration by Luis Grañena
In June, Kash Patel, the combative pundit-turned-FBI director, made an alarming announcement. A young Chinese researcher at the University of Michigan had been arrested by federal agents after allegedly helping to smuggle a fungus into the United States called Fusarium graminearum, “an agroterrorism agent,” Patel said on X.
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office on charges brought against Jian and Liu, June 3, 2025. Credit: DOJ
The widely-studied fungus can cause head blight,
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