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Former Trump U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley warned Thursday that President Donald Trump’s plan to allow 600,000 Chinese students to study in the United States would be a “massive mistake.”
“That would be a huge gift to China and a threat to the United States,” Haley wrote on X.
Haley’s criticism surprised many conservatives who said they did not expect her to take a harder line than Trump on China and immigration.
“I did not have Nikki Haley being to Trump’s right on immigration issues on my 2025 bingo card,” wrote X user S.A. McCarthy, an editor at The American Spectator magazine.
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“I rarely agree with Nikki Haley. I think she is far too much of a throwback to failed George W. Bush era thinking,” wrote conservative analyst Greg Lawson. “BUT, on this specific issue, she is right.”
Others questioned the economic logic behind the policy. “America has a shortage of workers in tech and we are training foreign nationals?” one user asked.
“Holy s**t! I haven’t agreed with anything Nikki Haley has said in I don’t remember when,” wrote another. “It is insane for the Trump administration to allow 600K foreigners into American colleges — not because they are Chinese, but because the cost of college is already too high. Reduce demand = reduce costs.”
“When Nikki Haley is to the right of you, you’re making a big mistake,” another user quipped.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Trump is now to the left of Nikki Haley,” added another.
Trump first floated the 600,000 figure in August, alarming critics who have long warned about Chinese espionage in U.S. universities. More than 277,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S. during the 2023–2024 academic year, according to federal data.
The White House later clarified that the 600,000 number referred to two years’ worth of visas — meaning the proposal represented a continuation of current policy rather than a doubling of admissions.
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Trump defended the plan Monday on Fox News.
“We do have a lot of people coming in from China. We always have — China and other countries,” he said. “We also have a massive system of colleges and universities. And if we were to cut that in half, which perhaps makes some people happy, you would have half the colleges in the United States go out of business.”
“I actually think it’s good to have outside countries. Look, I want to be able to get along with the world — not the French, though,” he added.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham pushed back. “The Chinese, they spy on us, they steal our intellectual property,” she said.
“Do you think the French are better?” Trump replied.
“Yeah,” Ingraham shot back.
“I’m not so sure,” Trump said, citing French tariffs. “It’s not that I want them, but I view it as a business. One thing you don’t want to do is cut half the students from all over the world who are coming into our country and destroy our entire university system. I don’t want to do that.”
China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law requires all citizens and organizations to assist the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence efforts in the name of national security — a key concern among U.S. lawmakers warning that Chinese students and researchers can be pressured to steal sensitive data on behalf of Beijing.
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