Trump says he welcomes Chinese students even as his administration blocks them

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has not been very welcoming towards international students, particularly those from China.

So it was striking when US President Donald Trump declared that the US not only wanted but needed Chinese students, and would let 600,000 of them into American universities.

“It’s very insulting to say students can’t come here,” he said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Aug 26.

“I like that their students come here. I like that other countries’ students come here.”

He added: “And you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly.”

Mr Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said on Aug 27 that the ministry hoped the US would follow through on Mr Trump’s statement welcoming Chinese students and stop the “unprovoked harassment, interrogation and deportation” of Chinese students.

Still, it is a little late to be beckoning international students to enrol.

The autumn 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 US.

Earlier in 2025, for example, the Trump administration promised to put international students through a more intensive vetting process.

Since then, there have been reports that visa appointments for students in China, as well as India, Nigeria and Japan, have been hard if not impossible to get.

The visa problems could cause new international student enrolment in American colleges to drop by between 30 per cent and 40 per cent this autumn, according to one analysis.

The Trump administration has also moved to revoke visas from thousands of students, although it has not provided details about the nationalities of those it has targeted.

And the President’s officials have called out Chinese students in particular as potential national security threats.

But Mr Trump has recently been sounding a very different note.

While meeting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office on Aug 25, he said it was very important that China and the US get along.

“I hear so many stories about we’re not going to allow their students – we’re going to allow their students to come in,” he said. “We’re going to allow, it’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important.”

For years, China has been one of the top two senders of students to American campuses, along with India.

China sent more than 277,000 students to the US in 2023 to 2024, according to the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, including undergraduate and graduate students.

It sent the most undergraduates of all countries.

Chinese undergraduates, in particular, often pay full tuition for their education, and many universities rely on them for financial support – a fact Mr Trump acknowledged in his remarks.

Chinese doctoral students carry out sophisticated research in science and technology fields that would flounder without them. But they have often been portrayed as spies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the State Department would revoke visas for students associated with the Communist Party of China (CPC), along with the visas of those who were studying in certain sensitive fields.

In the past, Mr Trump has not been as hospitable.

The US President has said that while he welcomed international students, some might be involved in academic espionage and pose security risks.

His administration moved to

stop Harvard University from enrolling international students

, a move that was blocked in court.

In June, the US President signed a proclamation that sought to cut off the institution’s international students and accused Harvard of educating members of the CPC.

“Our adversaries, including the People’s Republic of China, try to take advantage of American higher education by exploiting the student visa programme for improper purposes and by using visiting students to collect information at elite universities in the United States,” Mr Trump’s proclamation said.

On Aug 26, Mr Trump said he had told Chinese President Xi Jinping that “we’re honoured to have the students here”.

They would be vetted, he said, but “we have a tremendous college system, the best in the world, nobody even close. That’s why China sends them here. And you can call it an industry if you want, but you’re talking about millions of people. And I’m honoured to have the students from China come here”. NYTIMES