President Donald Trump is under fire from his own supporters after declaring that roughly 600,000 Chinese students will be allowed to study in the United States, despite escalating trade tensions with Beijing.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump dismissed speculation that Chinese nationals would be kept out of the country. “I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students,” he said. “We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students.” He doubled down by adding: “It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China.”
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…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 26, 2025
The announcement contrasted sharply with Trump’s previous actions targeting China, including massive tariff hikes and tighter restrictions on student visas. His administration had also pursued sweeping deportations of foreigners, which made the reversal stand out even more.
Only a few months earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled strict visa policies in an attempt to curb Chinese student enrollment. At the time, Rubio proclaimed the U.S. would “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.” The shift, Rubio insisted, was intended to “put America first, not China.”
Trump’s latest comments, however, seemingly upended the “America First” doctrine — drawing criticism from multiple conservative figures. Across right-wing media and online platforms, prominent supporters accused him of abandoning his own nationalist rhetoric.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the issue during her program The Ingraham Angle. “Mr. Secretary, with all due respect, how is allowing 600,000 students from the communist country of China putting America first?” she asked.
Lutnick defended Trump’s decision, describing it as a pragmatic stance. “Well, the president’s point of view is that what would happen if you didn’t have those 600,000 students is that you’d empty [U.S. universities] from the top,” he explained.
In his view, Chinese students often fill spaces at the nation’s most prestigious schools, and without them, American students would move up to those universities. “All [American] students would go up to better schools, and the bottom 15% of universities and colleges would go out of business in America,” Lutnick added.
Paging @StephenM
Nobody, I repeat nobody, wants 600,000 more Chinese “students” aka Communist spies in the United States.
China murdered 1.2 million Americans.
Now they get to replace us?
This cannot happen.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 25, 2025
But the justification did little to calm skeptics online. On X, formerly Twitter, Trump loyalists erupted in anger. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned against welcoming what she described as potential Communist Party sympathizers.
“We should not let in 600,000 CHINESE students to attend American colleges and universities that may be loyal to the CCP,” Greene insisted. “Why are we allowing 600,000 students from China to replace our American student’s opportunities? We should never allow that. And we need more trade school graduates.”
Far-right activist Laura Loomer went even further, reviving conspiratorial claims about COVID-19 and accused Chinese students of being spies. “Nobody, I repeat nobody, wants 600,000 more Chinese ‘students’ aka Communist spies in the United States,” she wrote in a viral post. Loomer escalated her rhetoric by alleging, “China murdered 1.2 million Americans. Now they get to replace us? This cannot happen.”
Other users echoed similar concerns, accusing Trump of hypocrisy. One post criticized the president for ranting about Beijing’s alleged theft of American jobs while simultaneously “rolling out the red carpet” for students.
Has Trump got Dementia, or is he just Dumb..
How did the Republican Party pick him to be their Candidate for the Presidential Office ?
— Piali GUPTA (@PialiGupta) August 27, 2025
“He roars on stage about China stealing jobs but then rolls out the red carpet for 600,000 Chinese students like a hotel concierge desperate for a tip,” the user mocked. “That’s not strategy, it’s hypocrisy with a spray tan.”
Still, not all reactions were negative. A number of voices online endorsed Trump’s position, arguing that closer engagement with China could be beneficial. “Trump’s plan is a wise decision,” one supporter suggested. “China is the emerging superpower, so I think we should work together.”
MAGA’s outburst against Trump shows how even his most loyal followers will not think twice before attacking him if he does not abide by his own words that he had previously said. It would now be interesting to see how Trump responds to his followers and justifies his latest decision about China.
