In recent generations, the United States has welcomed many of the world’s best students to our colleges and universities, in part because of what they contribute to this country and in part because they often bring home our lessons and values to improve their own countries. It’s a model that’s long been embraced by both parties, and it hasn’t been especially controversial.

The Trump administration, however, has spent 2025 turning the model on its head. Indeed, JD Vance explicitly rejected the traditional U.S. approach earlier this year: Foreign students at elite U.S. universities are “not just bad for national security,” the vice president said, but also “bad for the American dream, for American kids who want to go to a nice university but can’t because their spot was taken by a foreign student.”

Two months later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the United States would “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students.

Then Donald Trump surprised many earlier this week when he publicly announced plans to allow 600,000 students from China to come to the U.S. to study, rejecting his own policy. A day later, during a White House Cabinet meeting, a reporter asked the president to clarify the White House’s position.

After boasting that he’s “getting along very well” with China’s Xi Jinping, the Republican added, “I think it’s very insulting to say students can’t come here. … I like that other countries’ students come here.” Specifically referring to Chinese students, Trump concluded, “[W]e’re honored to have the students here.”

This roughly coincided with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arguing that Trump, by allowing 600,000 students to attend elite U.S. universities, will force more American students to go to lesser schools and prevent them from closing. Lutnick told Fox News the strategy should be seen as “classic Trump.”

Apparently, some of the president’s followers weren’t persuaded. NBC News reported:

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President Donald Trump’s latest comments about allowing hundreds of thousands of Chinese international students into the United States have drawn criticism from some of the most outspoken members of the Republican Party.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was among those to condemn the shift, as was right-wing influencer and Trump confidant Laura Loomer. Fox News’ Laura Ingraham said of the administration’s new policy, “I just don’t understand it, for the life of me.”

There’s no shortage of questions surrounding the developments, although there are far fewer answers. At the top of the list is the most obvious: Why did Trump abandon the position his own administration has spent the year pushing? Was this the result of a deliberate shift, or did he just blurt out a random thought, establishing a new White House policy?

For what matter, will the president reverse course under pressure and pretend that this week’s earlier pronouncements didn’t actually happen?

And then there’s a practical consideration to keep in mind. As The New York Times reported, “It is a little late to be beckoning international students to enroll. The fall semester is beginning at many schools and the message seemed to contradict steps the administration has taken to make it more difficult for students, including those from China, to enter and study in the United States.”