Trump’s China deal sweetener turns sour, his visa proposal triggers Maga revolt

US President Donald Trump’s plan to grant 600,000 Chinese student visas has irked his Maga camp, in a latest meltdown of the president’s supporters over his policies.

The proposal to allow twice the number who studied in the US during the 2023-24 school year went over “like a turd” in right-wing media, The Bulwark wrote.

Trump’s announcement is being perceived as a “deal sweetener” as the US tries to strike a trade deal with China amid the president’s punitive tariffs.

“It’s a very important relationship. We’re going to get along good with China,” Trump said during a meeting with the South Korean President earlier this week.

Despite pushback from his backers, Trump defended his proposal at a Cabinet meeting, saying, “It’s very insulting to say students can’t come here because they’ll go out and start building schools and they’ll be able to survive it. But I like that their students come here. I like that other countries’ students come here.”

He added, “And you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly. And it wouldn’t be the top colleges, so it’d be colleges that struggle on the bottom. And you take out 300,000 or 600,000 students out of the system.”

The president said that he had told China’s Xi Jinping  “that we’re honoured to have their students here.”

Trump’s Maga base unhappy

Trump’s base remains deeply suspicious of Beijing’s influence in the US, fiercely protective of American jobs, and staunchly opposed to what it perceives as “woke” ideology on college campuses.

Against that backdrop, the prospect of more Chinese students entering American universities, already seen by many on the right as liberal strongholds, is viewed by the MAGA movement as a direct provocation.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Why are we allowing 600,000 students from China to replace our American student’s opportunities? We should never allow that.”

Steve Bannon, Trump’s former aide, said, “Any foreign student that does come here ought to have an exit visa stapled to his or her diploma to leave immediately. Give them 30 days.”

How would it stiffen the economy?

Chinese students typically pay the sticker price for US board and tuition. Trump’s commerce secretary suggested 15 per cent of schools might close without their dollars

On the other hand, Trump’s decision could bring around $32 billion in revenue, the Cato Institute estimated.

This results in a direct financial impact of $32.1 billion, with approximately 186,600 students attending private institutions at an average total cost of $62,990, and 413,400 students enrolled in public institutions at an average cost of $49,080.