China Sues U.S. State For $50 BILLION, Republican Attorney General Says

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said China is suing the state for $50 billion as she moves toward seizing Chinese assets.

In the suit, China declared Missouri an “economic and reputational menace.”

“Earlier this year, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office secured a historic $24 billion judgment against the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party, and related entities for unleashing and worsening the COVID-19 pandemic, and Attorney General Hanaway fully intends to collect,” a press release from the Missouri Attorney General’s office stated.

NEW: China has filed suit in Wuhan to attack Missouri after we held them accountable for unleashing COVID-19.

They owe Missourians $24 billion dollars and now are saying Missouri is “deeply endangering” the sovereignty of China and has “belittled the social evaluation” of the… pic.twitter.com/N5Xbr2HI3y

— Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway (@AGCHanaway) December 16, 2025

NewsNation has more:

Five years ago, Missouri sued China for causing and exacerbating the COVID-19 pandemic. They argued that China thwarted the production, purchasing, importing and exporting of medical equipment.

“I’ve been banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted by Communist China in a $50 billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honor,” added Schmitt, R-Mo.

“China’s sinister malfeasance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to over a million Americans losing their lives, economic turmoil that rocked our country for years, and an enormous amount of human suffering, and as Missouri Attorney General, I filed suit to hold them accountable,” Schmitt said.

China is also demanding Missouri officials issue public apologies on several American media and internet platforms.

Hanaway, however, says the state will continue to work on obtaining certification that will allow her to seize Chinese-owned assets, which include real property, financial interests, and other holdings tied to the defendants from overseas.

“I find it extremely telling that the Chinese blame our great state for ‘belittling the social evaluation’ of The Wuhan Institute of Virology. This lawsuit is a stalling tactic and tells me that we have been on the right side of this issue all along,” Hanaway said.

“We stand undeterred in our mission to collect on our $24 billion judgment that was lawfully handed down in federal court,” she added.

Meanwhile, Schmitt, who served as Missouri attorney general from 2019 to 2023, said he will not apologize to China.

I was just targeted and sued by Communist China in a $50 Billion Lawfare campaign—retaliation against me for winning a $24 Billion judgment against China for hoarding PPE during COVID.

This baseless, meritless lawfare is unprecedented. I’m fighting it with everything I’ve got. pic.twitter.com/pRm4bANPD2

— Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) December 17, 2025

Fox News shared further:

The People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are suing Schmitt for roughly $50 billion, years after he sued China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawsuit, first obtained by Fox News Digital, accused Schmitt, FBI co-deputy director Andrew Bailey and the state of Missouri of damaging the reputations of China, Wuhan and the associated research facilities through “malicious vexatious litigation, fabricating enormous disinformation, and spreading stigmatizing and discriminating slanders.”

Schmitt blasted the matter as “sour grapes,” while explaining that his team is working on translating the legal papers served to him.

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