Trump allows 6 lakh Chinese students into US, faces backlash from supporters

Following several months of pushback and a crackdown on international students in America, United States President Donald Trump said he would allow six lakh Chinese students to enter the country. Trump has said that Washington and Beijing shared a “very important relationship.”

The recent announcement from him signalled a significant shift from his administration’s ‘America First’ policy. The latest announcement from Trump sparked a fresh debate among his supporters. Several of them have called this move a betrayal of America's First Policy.

Also read: Trump threatens 200 pc tariff if China withholds rare earth magnets

On Monday, August 25, during the press conference at the Oval Office, Trump said, "We're going to allow their students to come in. It's very important, 600,000 students. It's very important. But we're going to get along with China."

Trade truce extended

Earlier, after assuming power for the second time, in January this year, the Trump administration had promised to "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields".

However, Trump warned Beijing to ensure Washington access to rare earth magnets or face 200 per cent tariffs. Though he wanted access to the rare earth materials, he assured that the trade tensions between America and China, the two largest economies in the world, would not impact Chinese students and they would still be allowed to study in the US.

Trump’s tariff announcement threatened to destabilise US-China relations over the past year. In April, Washington raised duties on Chinese goods as high as 145 per cent. Now, officials from the two nations decided, on August 12, to extend their trade truce for another 90 days, a window to find common ground for the negotiators.

Sparks criticism

Trump's latest announcement did not sit well with his Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters. They called his move a betrayal of the America First agenda.

One of MAGA loyalists, Laura Loomer, slammed Trump's decision and called Chinese students CCP spies. She wrote on X, “Please don't Make America China. MAGA doesn't want more immigrants”.

"When did any China man or Muslim Make America Great?" she asked in another post.

"Now that we are importing 600,000 CCP spies, what's the point of American students going into STEM?" Loomer added.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican Congresswoman and a Trump supporter, also opposed Trump's move. "We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP." (sic)

Also read: Who is Peter Navarro? Why is he angry with India, and rest of the world?

However, Team Trump tried to defend Trump’s move. Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said, on Fox News, without allowing the Chinese students, "the bottom 15 per cent of universities would go out of business in America. President Trump's taking a rational economic view."

America First Policy

Trump's new announcement is contrary to his administration's earlier policy, outlining his administration's intentions of putting America first.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "Under President Trump's leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields. We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong”.