Trump says 600,000 Chinese students are welcome in the US: What you need to know about the MAGA-splitting policy U-turn

US President Donald Trump has stated that 600,000 Chinese students would be welcome to study in American universities, a declaration that marks a significant departure from previous restrictive immigration and visa policies.

The announcement has drawn sharp criticism from several figures within Trump's "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) base, who view it as a reversal of the administration's longstanding stance on China and international student vetting.Speaking during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office, Trump said: “We are going to allow their students to come in. It's very important — 600,000 students,” as reported by the Associated Press.

He reiterated the position at a Cabinet meeting the next day, stating, “I told this to President Xi that we're honoured to have their students here,” and emphasised that while the US is “careful” in vetting, international students play a vital role in supporting American colleges, as quoted by the Associated Press.A shift from earlier restrictionsThis statement signals a policy U-turn from previous measures implemented during Trump's administration.

These measures included increased vetting of student visas, expanded criteria for terminating international students' enrolment, and efforts to block foreign students, including at institutions like Harvard. In late May, the US State Department announced that it would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students,” particularly those with links to the Chinese Communist Party or those studying in critical technology-related fields.The current figure of 600,000 students mentioned by Trump significantly exceeds the actual number of Chinese students enrolled in US institutions. According to data cited by the Associated Press, the number of Chinese students peaked at 372,532 during the 2019–2020 academic year, before declining to 289,526 in 2022 and further to 277,398 in 2023.MAGA figures express strong oppositionTrump's announcement has been met with strong resistance from key MAGA-aligned figures.

Former adviser Steve Bannon said, “There should be no foreign students here for the moment,” as reported by the Associated Press. Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene questioned the policy, stating that if colleges collapse without funding from Chinese students, “then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP,” according to the Associated Press.Former Trump adviser and far-right activist Laura Loomer and television host Laura Ingraham also criticised the policy.

Ingraham stated on Fox News' “The Ingraham Angle” that those 600,000 university spots “won't go to American kids,” as quoted by the Associated Press.Economic impact and educational dependencyCommerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, defending the move, said in the same Fox News interview that 15% of US colleges and universities would shut down without foreign students. Trump echoed this at his Cabinet meeting, saying that if these students did not attend, “Our college system would go to hell very quickly,” and noted that smaller, struggling institutions would be most affected, according to the Associated Press.A 2023–2024 analysis by NAFSA, an association of international educators, found that international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported 378,175 jobs.China responds to US student visa policiesThe Chinese Foreign Ministry has criticised US policies as “discriminatory, politically driven and selective law enforcement.” Spokesperson Mao Ning stated that Chinese students have been subjected to unfair treatment, including extended interrogations and visa revocations, as reported by the Associated Press.On August 26, the Chinese Embassy in Washington issued a travel advisory warning students to avoid entering the US via Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, citing multiple reports of student detentions and deportations. One student was reportedly held for over 80 hours before being sent back to China, according to the Associated Press.As the US-China relationship remains tense over trade and technology, the debate over Chinese student visas continues to expose divisions within the Trump administration and his broader political base.TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here.