Why Trump's nod for allowing 6 lakh Chinese students into the US has angered Maga

The United States is planning to welcome more Chinese students. American President Donald Trump has said 600,000 students from China will be allowed to enter the US to study at colleges, more than double the current figure.

Trump’s comments signal a potential thaw in the relations between the US and China amid trade talks. The remarks come even as the US administration continues its crackdown on international students, including the targeting of Chinese students.

Let’s take a closer look.

US to allow six lakh Chinese students

US President Donald Trump said on Monday (August 25) that 600,000 Chinese students will be allowed to study in America.

“I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students,” he told reporters. “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,” the US president added.

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Trump reiterated that Chinese President Xi Jinping had invited him “to come to China”.

Trump said he held talks with Xi “fairly recently” and that “at some point, probably during this year or shortly thereafter, we’ll go to China”.

His comments came hours after the Chinese embassy in the US advised students to “be cautious when choosing” Texas’ Houston as their destination when entering America, warning some students have been “unjustifiably questioned and harassed” recently.

US crackdown on Chinese students

The US president’s comments are a departure from his administration’s clampdown on immigrants, including restrictions on Chinese students.

Last week, the US State Department said visas of 6,000 foreign students were revoked since Trump took office in January this year. It also said it was vetting more than 55 million (5.5 crore) US visa holders for deportable offences, including overstaying, criminal activity and involvement in any form of “terrorist activity”.

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Currently, American universities host about 270,000 Chinese students.

In May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese nationals, especially those linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or sensitive research 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,” he said at the time.

Earlier in March, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to prevent Chinese nationals from receiving any of the main types of US student visas.

Trump has since changed tune, even saying in June that he has “always been in favour” of welcoming students from China.

However, laws have been proposed in Republican-dominated states to crack down on nationals from China.

Texas has introduced a bill to ban citizens from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from enrolling in any public universities in the state.

Ohio passed a bill in April that referenced China to clamp down on “foreign influence”.

This prompted the Chinese Ministry of Education to issue a study advisory, warning Chinese nationals to “make a security assessment” before studying in Ohio.

Maga backlash over Trump’s remarks

Trump’s decision to let more Chinese students in has not sit well with his Make America Great Again (Maga) support base.

Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer and close Trump ally, lashed out at the US president’s decision, branding Chinese students as “CCP spies.”

She wrote on X, “I didn’t vote for more Muslims and Chinese people to be imported to my country. Sorry but these immigrants from communist countries and Sharia shitholes where child rape is legalised don’t make America great. Please don’t Make America China. MAGA doesn’t want more immigrants.”

I didn’t vote for more Muslims and Chinese people to be imported to my country.

Sorry but these immigrants from communist countries and Sharia shitholes where child rape is legalized don’t make America great.

Please don’t Make America China.

MAGA doesn’t want more immigrants.

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 26, 2025

“When did any China man or Muslim Make America Great?” she asked in another controversial post. “Now that we are importing 600,000 CCP spies, what’s the point of American students going into STEM?” Loomer added.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, another vocal Trump supporter, also objected to Trump’s move and said, “We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP.”

“If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15 per cent of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being propped up by the CCP. Why are we allowing 600,000 students from China to replace our American student’s opportunities?” she posted on X.

We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP.

If refusing to allow these Chinese students to attend our schools causes 15% of them to fail then these schools should fail anyways because they are being…

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) August 26, 2025

Fox News host Laura Ingraham also grilled US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on-air, questioning how allowing more Chinese students was “America First”.

Lutnick defended Trump’s policy, saying that without those students, “the bottom 15 per cent of universities would go out of business in America. President Trump’s taking a rational economic view.”

With inputs from agencies