President Donald Trump is defending his decision to permit up to 600,000 Chinese students into the United States as part of the trade deal his administration is trying to strike with China.
“We’re getting along very well with China, and I’m getting along very well with President Xi,” Trump told reporters Tuesday at the White House. “I like that their students come here, and I like that other countries’ students come here, and you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly.”
During an hourslong Cabinet meeting, Trump underscored that his administration would “check” and be “careful” regarding the visa application process.
“We have a tremendous college system,” the president said. “That’s why China sends them here. I’m honored to have the students from China come here, and we’re just getting along very well with China. It’s a different relationship that we had for years, where they took hundreds of billions of dollars, just sucked it right out of our country. They respect us again. I respect them.”
He added, “There are some countries that we can’t necessarily say that. These are places that have ideologies that we can’t live with. So where there are some areas, some countries, that we can’t say that, but we’re honored to have the students come here.”
Trump announced the number on Monday after previewing that the U.S. would accept them. As of last year, more than 270,000 Chinese students were enrolled at U.S. universities.
The announcement has been criticized by conservatives concerned about national security after scrutiny of Chinese Communist Party influence campaigns in the U.S. through schools and higher education.
Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham, for example, asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday how Trump’s policy is “putting America first.”
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“If you didn’t have those 600,000 students, you’d empty them from the top, all the students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15% of universities would go out of business in America,” Lutnick said. “President Trump’s taking a rational economic view.”
Trump signed an executive order earlier this month extending the deadline for the U.S. and China to reach a trade deal by another 90 days to Nov. 10, or he would impose more sanctions. The president had previously threatened tariffs of 145%, to which China had retaliated with its own 125% duties.