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.
Q: "In May, Sec. Rubio said they were aggressively removing visas of Chinese students. Yesterday, you said you wanted to allow 600 thousand Chinese students to study in the U.S….What is the policy on Chinese students?"Trump: "I'm getting along very well with President Xi. I think it's very insul
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-08-26T19:41:48.332Z
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:








