EXCLUSIVE: Trump Says Allowing Chinese Students Is ‘Right Thing To Do’

THE OVAL OFFICE – President Donald Trump told the Daily Caller that allowing Chinese students to study in the United States is the “right thing to do” because it’s good to get along with other countries.

The Daily Caller interviewed Trump on Friday for an hour. Speaking on why he is allowing Chinese students to still study in America, the president told the Caller that it is “very insulting” to tell another country that their students can’t come here. Trump added that it would cause “lesser universities” to suffer, and told Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese that he didn’t want to see Ivy League universities fail.

The following is an unedited excerpt of the Caller’s conversation with the president. A full transcript will be made available Monday.

DAILY CALLER WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT REAGAN REESE: You’re allowing 600,000 Chinese students to still study here –

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 600,000 over two years – 

REESE: Over two years. I’m curious if this is a negotiation tactic, or is this something you think benefits the country? 

TRUMP: I think that it’s very insulting to a country. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. I think it’s very insulting to a country when you say you’re not going to take your students, and they have probably 300,000 –  600 is over two years – but they have, let’s say 300-350,000 students. It’s also good for our system, when you take them out and you know who’s going to be affected, the lesser colleges, the top colleges aren’t going to be, it’s the lesser colleges that are —

REESE: It wouldn’t take like Harvard out? You don’t think? Because when I hear that, I think, I think conservatives would say, ‘all right, let’s let Harvard and Columbia or the universities die.’ But you think it would hurt the lesser schools?

TRUMP: I don’t want them to die, no, I want them to be great, but I want to be fair. And you know, they’re being punished. But you know, I don’t want, we have, we have the greatest system in the world, university, young, you know, the high schools. And let’s say you don’t take Harvard. They’re going to develop schools, and they’ll be fine, they’re going to be fine. No, I think it’s very insulting, in that sense, to be doing that, and I think it would hurt the system. And, you know, I get along with China. China’s paying us a lot of money right now. They’re paying us hundreds of millions of dollars. And do you understand what I mean by that?

REESE: Yes.

TRUMP: It’s very insulating to say we don’t want their students. 

REESE: Yes.

TRUMP: I, you know, I think it’s good for us, but you know, we’re doing well with China.

REESE: Is there something you hope to get specifically in return for allowing their students to still study?

TRUMP: No, no, I don’t want anything in return. We’re doing well. They’re paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. They paid Biden, you know? Well, Biden left mine, you know, I did this in my first term. A lot of people don’t know. And then when COVID came, it was hard to say to Italy, which was just getting decimated, right? Italy and France and Spain, we’re going to put taxes on yourself. We’re going to charge you a nice tax or tariff. So, no, I just think it’s, I think it’s, I think what we’re doing is the right thing to do. It’s good to get along with countries, not bad, especially, you know, nuclear-powered countries. I think it’s good to get along with countries. The [Ukraine-Russia war] would have never started if I were president, all those kids would have been alive right now.

Trump announced the policy on Aug. 25, saying that Chinese students would be allowed as long as they didn’t pose a national security threat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May that the administration would be revoking visas from Chinese students. The president previously explained the change in policy to Reese on Tuesday during his marathon cabinet meeting. (RELATED: Trump Says Hundreds Of Thousands Of Chinese Students Are ‘Good For Our Country’)

Trump told Reese in the cabinet meeting that he was “honored” to have China’s students come to the U.S.