President Trump and Xi Jinping. (Photo: Wikipedia)
Trump Floats Lead Trial Balloon, Says US May Accept 600,000 Chinese Students Into Universities
For comparison, approximately 277,000 Chinese student are currently enrolled in American universities
By Megan Barth, August 26, 2025 1:22 pm
During an Oval Office press conference yesterday, President Trump told reporters that the United States is prepared to accept 600,000 Chinese students as part of his ongoing trade negotiations with Beijing.
“We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China,” he said. “But it’s a different relationship that we have now with China. It’s a much relationship economically than it was before with Biden.”
For comparison, from 2023-2024 approximately 277,000 Chinese students were enrolled in American universities from a high of 372,000 students in the 2019-2020 academic year.
Following his announcement, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News Host Laura Ingraham that the “bottom 15% of universities would go out of business in America.” When pressed by Ingraham who asked, “How is this America First?”, Lutnick pivoted to H1-B visas.
WATCH:
Needless to say, many of Trump’s supporters and Republican colleagues lit up X (formerly Twitter) like a Chinese lantern.
Republican Senator Mike Lee from Utah responded, “We have enough Marxists. No more please.”
Investigative journalist Laura Loomer expectedly took a more pointed approach, asking, “Now that we are importing 600,000 CCP spies, what’s the point of American students going into STEM? Adding, “China murdered 1.2 million Americans with a bio weapon. Send us reparations. Not CCP spies.”
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also disagreed with Trump, noting that failing schools should be allowed to fail and offered trade schools as an alternative:
“We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP.
If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15% of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP.
Why are we allowing 600,000 students from China to replace our American student’s opportunities?
We should never allow that.
Trade schools are a GREAT alternative and produce the essential education and training for the most needed jobs in America with very high starting pay.”
President Trump’s statement is a reversal from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s commitment to begin “revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields” by working with the Department of Homeland Security to assist in his efforts.
President Trump is known for his bold statements and actions and politicians often float trial balloons to gauge reactions from the public. China has even floated a balloon of their own. In 2023, the Communist Chinese government floated a spy balloon over North American Airspace that was shot down by the U.S. military to protect U.S. intelligence.
Although it remains unknown if the president will commit to doubling the number of Chinese students within American universities, the president’s proposal has been shot down by his most ardent supporters.
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Who the hell put Trump up to this? He knows that China is a mortal enemy of the US. Can’t think of what his angle might be.
Where do gubernotorious candidates stand on this proposal?
What President Trump DOES is important…..What he SAYS often may not be wrt a policy decision. Just bear in mind that he is ALWAYS negotiating. The 600,000 sounds like a carrot for Xi.
How many would return to China after graduation?
USA=NEW CHINA
HELL NO!
Never forget the CCP controls ALL CITIZENS!
This is not an America First Policy.
Remember Fang Fang, Eric Fartswell’s honey pot was here on a student visa!
Watch out Eric there might be more temptation out there! Tens for sure, no sevens allowed into our universities😉
NO!
America is a proxy agent for other nations America is somehow obligated to support.
Very strange bedfellows and not America’s best interests in play here.
https://www.newsweek.com/china-israel-military-technology-beijing-jerusalem-saul-eisenberg-weapons-607117
“President Donald Trump announced on August 25, 2025, during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the White House, that the U.S. would allow 600,000 Chinese students to enter the country for higher education. This figure more than doubles the current number of approximately 277,000 Chinese students enrolled in U.S. universities for the 2023-24 academic year, according to data from the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors Report. Trump reiterated the stance during a Cabinet meeting the following day, emphasizing that he had personally told Chinese President Xi Jinping, “We’re honored to have their students here,” while stressing that the students would be “carefully” vetted.
This announcement represents a notable departure from the Trump administration’s earlier hardline stance on Chinese student visas. In May 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students, particularly those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or studying in sensitive fields like technology and critical infrastructure. The administration has also implemented broader restrictions, including enhanced vetting, efforts to block foreign enrollment at institutions like Harvard, and expanded grounds for terminating international students’ status. During his first term (2017-2021), Trump banned certain Chinese graduate students with military-linked educational backgrounds and accused elite universities of educating CCP members as potential security risks.
The timing appears linked to ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations. The U.S. and China recently extended a 90-day trade truce on August 12, 2025, amid tensions over tariffs (U.S. rates as high as 145% on Chinese imports) and access to rare earth minerals, which China dominates. Trump has leveraged these talks, threatening 200% tariffs on magnets if China does not comply, but he has also expressed optimism about meeting Xi soon and improving bilateral ties. In June 2025, Trump previewed a more welcoming approach, stating he had “always been in favor” of Chinese students, though without specifying numbers.
Trump and administration officials have articulated several rationales for welcoming the additional students, framing it as a pragmatic economic and diplomatic decision rather than a security concession:
1. **Economic Support for U.S. Higher Education**: Trump argued that international students, including those from China, are essential to keeping American colleges viable. He stated, “You know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly,” specifically noting that the absence of 300,000-600,000 such students would disproportionately harm lower-tier institutions. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed this on Fox News’ *The Ingraham Angle* on August 25, 2025, explaining that without these students, “you’d empty them from the top. All the students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15 percent of universities and colleges would go out of business in America.” Lutnick described it as a “rational economic view, which is classic Donald Trump,” highlighting that foreign tuition (often paid upfront in full) generates billions in revenue for U.S. schools, subsidizing operations and enabling scholarships for domestic students. Chinese students alone contribute an estimated $15-20 billion annually to the U.S. economy through tuition, housing, and spending.
2. **Diplomatic and Trade Leverage**: Trump tied the policy to broader U.S.-China relations, saying, “It’s a very important relationship. We’re going to get along good with China.” He noted that the U.S. is “taking a lot of money in from China because of the tariffs,” positioning student visas as part of a balanced deal. This aligns with recent concessions, such as a temporary license for rare earth mineral access, in exchange for trade stability. Trump has suggested the influx could encourage China to decouple economically from adversaries like Russia or ease restrictions on U.S. exports. He also framed it as a rebuttal to “insulting” narratives that bar Chinese students, potentially fostering goodwill ahead of a possible Xi summit.
3. **Vetting and Security Assurances**: Trump emphasized that the students would be screened: “We check and we’re careful, we see who is there.” The administration has maintained that while numbers increase, revocations for CCP-linked or high-risk individuals would continue, and the policy does not override national security protocols.” – Grok
Bottom line Donald Trump compromised to the hilt and experiencing failing health. The Epstein issues being held over his head thus we can expect the worst.
In addition to Elon Musk’s contribution to his campaign, Miriam Adleson also contributed a reported $100 million.
With a debt burden of$40 trillion America’s fate in the hands of others; will the others act bennovelantly?
Not sure about this one but what broadly speaking what Trump is doing makes more sense when you realize he is decoupling from the “city of London”. They have been nefarious for centuries and they drew us back in DEEP after 1971. He is trying to pivot into the next century cuz this “rules based order” is no longer working out for either the USA or the EU and the UK with their BoE overlords. Cast your eyes to the UK….that is where the Democrats were taking us. If you are not up to speed on this financial power structure I would recommend Promethean Updates on YT but Tom Luongo brings his own variation of unique analysis. You will never hear it from Fox News….those boomers are trapped in the year 1985.
The problem with the alternate socioeconomic paradigms is that they all ignore the already amassed $40 trillion simple debt and ignoring too the committed obligation extensions. This debt isn’t going away!
All the various models extended vanquish America’s sovereignty as payment for the burden America alacriously ushered to our new reality.
Regardless and clearly, the end of America as we know it before us.