President Donald Trump said US and China shared a ‘very important relationship’ as he was replying to a reporter’s question at the White House on August 25. He went on to say that the US would welcome 600,000 students from China.

Trump also said that they were making a lot of money from China, due to the tariffs, among other things. However, Trump’s statement about welcoming Chinese students at a time when his administration is otherwise cracking down on immigration, has not gone down well with the MAGA base.

Trump’s statement on Chinese students riles many

Many of Trump’s usual supporters were up in arms against his statement on Chinese students.

“There are 331K Indian student visas already. He will staple a green card to their diplomas. His plan is to make Ethnic Americans the serf class and give the ruling class to the Indians and Chinese,” said one profile self-identifying as a ‘patriot’.

“Why are we not acting like China is the adversary they are? The number should be zero,” another said. Yet another added, “America doesn’t have unlimited jobs. Trump is bringing in 600k Chinese students. They will displace Americans. Americans are sick of this! Decades and decades of this treason!”

Harrison H. Smith of Infowars also decried the move with some unsavory words directed at the president. Infowars is the Alex Jones-created conspiracy site that played a role in Trump’s return to the White House. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 277,398 Chinese students were enrolled in American universities. The numbers reportedly fell in 2024.

Meanwhile, a May 2025 visa policy change statement reflected the current government’s intentions of putting America first, not China. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. 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,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said.