“I mean, they’re taking back our pandas. You know, we should take back all their farmland.”

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, complaining about China buying up American farmland, which is just one of several recent incidents that show growing tensions between the U.S. and China, several of which have been panda-related. The National Zoo’s three giant pandas are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement will be renewed or continued. Beijing currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs.” If the National Zoo’s pandas do return to China in December, the only giant pandas left in America will be those at the Atlanta Zoo, and their loan agreement expires late next year. (Associated Press — Oct. 3, 2023)