【Text by Observer Net Columnist Zhou Deyu】
Just like the policies of the Trump administration on all matters, on the issue of Chinese students, they are always making it up as they go. For a long time, the U.S. government has had an adversarial attitude towards Chinese students, constantly claiming that Chinese students are spies and threats. Rubio recently made a strong statement about strictly reviewing Chinese students' visas. However, in recent days, Trump has changed his tune again, frequently stating that he has never stopped Chinese students from coming, and even wants to allow 600,000 Chinese students to visit the United States.
But this kind of thing is just like Trump's usual nonsense, and you can just listen to it and not take it seriously. It's unclear where the number 600,000 came from. At its peak, there were only 370,000 Chinese students in the U.S., and now it's around 270,000.
Of course, when Trump explained why he was suddenly welcoming Chinese students, his intention was very straightforward: "I like their students coming here, I like students from other countries coming here. Do you know what happens if they don't come? Our university system will collapse quickly."
Trump recently told reporters that he welcomes more Chinese students to study in the United States, saying that without them, American universities would "crash." Screenshot of video
This is one of the few times Trump has spoken seriously. International students, especially Chinese students who make up about 35%, are the most important financial backers for many American universities and the communities they are located in. Chinese students have relatively strong purchasing power. They not only pay full tuition fees, ensuring the financial stability of the schools, but also their consumption behaviors such as renting, buying cars, dining, and traveling provide significant support to the local economy. Just look at the numerous bubble tea shops and Chinese restaurants that have sprung up around American universities, and you can understand this.
The renowned right-wing think tank Cato Institute immediately praised Trump, saying that 600,000 Chinese students could bring a direct fiscal impact of $32.1 billion, which is too valuable.
Therefore, Trump is not really welcoming Chinese students; he just wants them to come as "naive moneybags." This aligns with his consistent approach of trying to extract money from countries around the world. Perhaps one day, he might even sell a "study abroad card" with his face to Chinese students as "naive moneybags."
However, even with this economic reasoning, many anti-China supporters in the MAGA camp do not buy it. Many people believe that Chinese students are always a threat, and why should we give the opportunity to study to Americans instead?
For example, prominent MAGA Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene raised a soul-searching question: "If not allowing Chinese students to come would cause 15% of schools to close, let them close. They are supported by the Communist Party anyway. Why should we allow 600,000 Chinese students to replace the opportunities of American students? We can never allow such things."
Naturally, the answer to this question is simple. You can't find 600,000 American students who can afford tuition and bring the same economic benefits as Chinese students. The high cost of student loans in the U.S. has been sucking money for days. Those who can afford to study have already done so, and the rest cannot afford it. You can't find hundreds of thousands of American students who can afford university tuition. Therefore, it's not that international students have taken away the opportunity for American students to study, but rather that American students themselves cannot afford to study, giving international students the chance.
The division within the MAGA camp on this issue is not new. In early 2025, a group led by Elon Musk believed that as long as foreign talent serves the U.S., it still supports the "America First" strategy, which triggered a strong backlash from another faction of grassroots MAGA forces, who believed that foreign talent would always occupy domestic jobs, and that the U.S. has enough talent, so why should foreigners be allowed?
In 2023, the U.S. education service export volume (the amount Chinese students paid for tuition, accommodation, textbooks, and related expenses) accounted for 29% of the U.S. global education service exports, reaching $14.4 billion, supporting over 143,000 jobs. Figure from: U.S.-China Business Council "U.S. Export Report to China," April 2025
The Trump administration has always wanted to balance these two positions, so you see many conflicting policies, but in the end, the xenophobic approach usually dominates. For example, on the issue of foreign talent, although Trump seemed to sympathize with Musk's position, in actual policy implementation, he still took an adversarial attitude toward foreign talent, which is why we have recently seen some Chinese scholars returning to China. The same logic applies to immigrant labor issues. Although the Trump administration publicly claimed to consider the labor needs of various industries, in practice, it carried out large-scale immigration crackdowns, directly arresting immigrants working on construction sites and farms, even if it affected the local economy, without stopping.
Therefore, it can be expected that even if Trump makes statements like "welcoming Chinese students" to soothe some schools or local governments, when it comes to implementation, the real welcome for Chinese students may be something else. Except for study abroad immigration intermediaries, anyone who believes that the U.S. truly welcomes Chinese students is a potential target for fraud. Don't look at what they say, look at what they do. The Foreign Ministry's recent reminder about the safety risks of traveling to the U.S. is not in vain.
Actually, the U.S. anti-Chinese trend doesn't need to be discussed much. This isn't something that started this year. Anyone with eyes can see that the hostility and rejection of the Chinese in the U.S. are long-term, systematic, and have broad consensus and deep foundations. Although some U.S. industries need labor and money from China, under the overall U.S. context of viewing China as an enemy, the economic and public opinion basis for being friendly with China is far less than the gains and public support from anti-Chinese sentiments. Therefore, the hostility towards Chinese students cannot be reversed by Trump's two sentences or a few sporadic policies.
More importantly, from Trump's own governance needs, xenophobia is always the easiest line to achieve results. In U.S. politics, racism is a theme that "works every time," a true emotional anchor for most Americans. Although Trump constantly claims to want to revitalize the U.S. economy and diplomacy, after all the chaos, achieving results is both difficult and slow. How does it compare to deploying police and military to arrest people, which is more direct and certain?
Even Latinos, who have much larger numbers and political power than Chinese people, have not escaped Trump's treatment. The future of Chinese people in the U.S. won't be much better either. However, Chinese people have a stronger motherland than Latinos, so Trump always has to negotiate on various issues concerning China, and won't completely cut off the issue of Chinese students in a short time.
Therefore, even though Sino-U.S. relations continue to deteriorate, there is still some space for Chinese students to go to the U.S., although their status is becoming increasingly awkward. For those with strong academic value, especially in science and engineering, the restrictions on Chinese students in the U.S. are naturally increasing. Humanities subjects have fewer restrictions, but it's not easy to learn anything meaningful.
Due to the impact of Trump's policies, the interest of Chinese scholars in U.S. research positions has decreased. Screenshot from the Nature magazine website
During my years in the U.S., many people asked me about going to the U.S. for a Ph.D. Most of the time, I advised against it. I told many people that they weren't really interested in academia, they just wanted to escape life for a few years. If you really want to do academia, you can do it in China too. Of course, this is not absolute. U.S. academic research is still dominant in the Western world, and many academic frontiers are still in the U.S., which is suitable for some specific directions to study in the U.S.
As for the majority of students who go to the U.S. for undergraduate or master's degrees, in short, everyone is honest. Whether you learn or not is not that important. Just like many people in China who go to college are not really studying, those who go abroad for studies are not necessarily studying either. They just want to change environments to travel and live, play for a few years and get a degree. This is an inevitable demand in society.
If you really want to go abroad to change your environment, and you only know English, the U.S. education industry is still more mature, with more legitimate schools to choose from and more living environments to select from. Compared to Southeast Asia or Commonwealth countries, going to the U.S. is definitely better, whether you want to study or just to pass time.
Of course, it's best not to just be a naive moneybag in the U.S., but to learn something.
Actually, no matter what subject, what you really learn in the U.S. is the U.S. itself. The more the U.S. government treats China as its biggest enemy, the more necessary it is for us to have people go and actually understand the U.S., whether good or bad. In the past, we may have focused more on understanding the advanced aspects of the U.S., but now we need to understand more about the backwardness of the U.S. But in any case, someone has to go and study and live in the U.S. to have personal experiences.
Just like you can read Vance's book "Hillbilly Elegy" in China to understand the history and current situation of the Rust Belt in the U.S. But only by actually experiencing the despair and decline in the Rust Belt can you understand why Trump won the support of those areas and why Vance firmly supported Trump, eventually rising to the position of Vice President. If you experience the changes in American society over the years, you can understand that nothing in the current U.S. is accidental, and behind all seemingly absurd and ridiculous events, there are serious reasons that can be found in American history and reality.
Of course, if you just stay in an American campus and mix with a small number of liberal middle-class Americans, or even don't leave the Chinese community, then going to the U.S. is almost the same as not going at all. But this is normal. Many people born and raised in the U.S. have the same level of understanding of the U.S. as foreigners, which is why we see the U.S. in this state today.
In May this year, the U.S. Department of State released a statement titled "New Visa Policy Prioritizes the U.S., Not China," stating that it would strengthen the review of all future visa applications from mainland China and Hong Kong.
Nevertheless, as long as there are enough people from China going to the U.S., there will always be a considerable number of people who can understand the U.S. and become a channel for the Chinese to understand the U.S. Civilian exchanges are the foundation of everything. As long as they are not too isolated from the local society, during their study process in the U.S., they will inevitably come into contact with some aspects, and countless aspects will eventually form a comprehensive image of the U.S.
Why do "China experts" in the U.S. always have a strange smell? Why do U.S. elites complain about misjudging China over and over again? The fundamental reason is that there are not many Americans who speak Chinese and are willing to come to China, and their understanding of China is monopolized and controlled by a few people.
Conversely, the more the Chinese understand the U.S., it is not through a few scholars pretending to travel to the U.S. or picking up second-hand literature, but through ordinary people from different backgrounds and social strata who study, live, and work in the U.S., presenting different aspects of American society. Chinese students, as a relatively young and inquisitive group, naturally play an important role in the Chinese understanding of the U.S.
Certainly, these Chinese students can also help the U.S. understand China and promote the normal and healthy development of Sino-U.S. relations. But what use is it in the face of the arrogance and hostility from top to bottom in the U.S.? If the U.S. does not want warm civilian exchanges between the two countries, it will not welcome 600,000 "naive moneybags" students, but only cold realities.
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