❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump appeared to reverse course on his administration’s emphasis on increased scrutiny of Chinese students seeking to study in the United States, saying he would bring over 600,000 of them.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Donald J. Trump and 600,000 Chinese students.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Comments made in the Oval Office on Monday, August 25, 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We’re gonna allow it. It’s very important. 600,000 students. It’s very important.” — President Trump
🎯IMPACT: If implemented, the new student visa level would be more than double the number of Chinese nationals that were allowed to study in the United States during the 2023/2024 academic year, which stood at an estimated 277,398.
President Donald J. Trump appeared to reverse course on his administration’s emphasis on increased scrutiny of Chinese students seeking to study in the United States on Monday. Speaking with the press in the Oval Office—along with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung—Trump suggested the federal government will grant visas to 600,000 Chinese students. This would more than double the number of Chinese nationals that were allowed to study in the United States during the 2023/2024 academic year, which stood at an estimated 277,398.
“It’s a very important relationship; we’re going to get along good with China. I hear so many stories about [how] we’re not gonna allow their students. No, we’re gonna allow their students to come in,” President Trump said, to the bewilderment of many of his MAGA supporters.
He added: “We’re gonna allow it. It’s very important. 600,000 students. It’s very important.”
JUST IN: President Trump says the United States is going to continue to allow 600,000 Chinese students to study at American colleges.
“I hear so many stories about we’re not gonna allow their students. No, we’re gonna allow their students to come in…”
“We’re gonna allow it.… pic.twitter.com/T7QJtu7HLg
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 25, 2025
In late May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department would begin revoking visas for Chinese students studying at American universities. Almost immediately after the policy was announced, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared the decision was “discriminatory.”
In a video statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning dismissed the mounting national security concerns posed by Chinese nationals at U.S. academic institutions, who have been tied to espionage and subversive activities in a number of cases.
Compounding the confusion around President Trump’s statement that the United States will now double the number of student visas held by Chinese nationals is the recent announcement that the administration will be undertaking a review of all 55 million visas held by foreigners, both inside and outside the country.
In addition, Secretary of State Rubio revealed that the State Department has revoked an estimated 6,000 student visas as of August 18.
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