Change in Prior Direction, But Trump is Unfazed
The decision represents a significant change from the firm approach his administration has maintained for months. While Trump emphasized that Chinese students represent a substantial financial contribution to the USA and strengthen our relationship with China, some of his allies were expressing frustration. Members of the Maga portion of the Republican party owed their allegiance to the USA name, but expressed that the student visas may impose on opportunities for American students or create security problems.
Trump reiterated his relationship with Chinese President Xi, and that China is contributing "hundreds of millions of dollars" to the United States, and emphasized that permitting the Chinese students into the USA helps to support economic growth in addition to diplomatic relations. White House officials reiterated that 600,000 total visas were going to be issued in the next two years, which exemplifies the concern for maintaining historical numbers.
Big Picture, US-China Relations.
It was only weeks ago that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he intended to pursue instrumented revocations of visas linked to individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party or fields of critical studies. These public comments came amidst ongoing discussions to address ongoing trade issues confronting Washington and Beijing, which had resulted in tariffs being initially issued, and later frozen as they reached a truce agreement. Infighting notwithstanding, Trump stated that his decision was based on doing the "right thing" for US-China relations with a superpower, nuclear power.
