- calendar_today August 21, 2025
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Former President Donald Trump on Monday promised that the U.S. will let in 600,000 Chinese students to come and study at American universities, a concession that might be a sign of a thawing of relations between the U.S. and China. For months, the U.S. has engaged in a tariff war with Beijing, slapping broad new levies on China and threatening to apply further restrictions to Chinese goods.
“We’re going to let them come into our colleges,” Trump said from the White House briefing room. “We’re not going to be doing that. We’re going to be letting them come in.”
The announcement is a signal that Trump may be easing up on his previously hardline policy towards China. In May, the Trump administration announced it was “aggressively revoking” the visas of Chinese students tied to the Chinese Communist Party or working at Chinese research institutions. The announcement was met with disapproval by many American universities.
In June, Trump also hinted that he would be more lenient on student visas from China. “I’ve always been in favor of letting students come in,” he said. “I’d be very strong on the fact that they can come in.”
About 270,000 students from China currently attend American schools. The figure Trump touted Monday would double that number, likely providing a massive boon to U.S. colleges and universities, many of which are tuition-dependent and already facing enrollment shortfalls in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tensions between the U.S. and China have been growing for months, and both countries have levied tariffs against the other. In May, the U.S. imposed a 145 percent tariff on all goods from China. In retaliation, China applied a 125 percent tariff on U.S. goods. The tariffs have caused fear among economists that the U.S. and China are headed towards an all-out trade war, with punishing tariffs levied against all Chinese and American imports.
After negotiators reached a tentative agreement in Geneva to halt the levy of new tariffs, Trump has also begun threatening new tariffs, including a 200 percent tariff on Chinese-made magnets last week. Trump said a lack of U.S.-made magnets was an example of China’s monopoly of the world’s supply.
“We don’t make magnets anymore. China, intelligently, went and they sort of took a monopoly on the world’s magnets,” Trump said. “It’ll probably take us a year to have them.”
The move comes ahead of a planned meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday. The South Korean government has often played a go-between role for the U.S. and China. Trump was asked if he would consider a meeting with Xi Jinping this year, and replied, “I would like to meet him this year.” He added, “We have to get along with China. China is a very, very big factor for us economically.”
“I think we’re going to do very well,” Trump said of trade with China. “You know we’re taking a fortune from China because of the tariffs and the different things.” He went on: “It’s a very important relationship. It’s a much better relationship economically than it was under Biden. But he allowed that. They just took him to the cleaners.”
By coupling his student announcement with an aggressive stance on tariffs, Trump seemed to be both signaling that his administration would not back down from competition with Beijing while still leaving open other avenues of cooperation. Trump has previously used education and academic exchange as a form of diplomatic maneuvering, even as political and trade relations have grown hostile.
For American universities, the announcement could have significant impacts. The U.S. economy currently gets billions of dollars each year from international students, with those from China being the majority of that figure. These include tuition, housing, and other spending. A figure of 600,000 students from China would greatly impact enrollment patterns while also providing a financial cushion to schools that have struggled during pandemic-era disruption.
