The US will also ‘enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications’ from China and Hong Kong, the State Department said.
The United States will “aggressively revoke” the visas of Chinese students studying in the country, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced, as the administration of President Donald Trump continues its crackdown on foreign students enrolled at higher education institutions in the US.
Rubio announced the shock move in a post on X, as well as a State Department statement published late on Wednesday, titled “New Visa Policies Put America First, Not China”.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the US 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,” the statement said.
“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong,” it added.
China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US, behind India. Chinese students made up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US during the 2023 – 2024 school year, at more than 270,000 in total.
Al Jazeera correspondent in Beijing Katrina Yu said many Chinese students in the US come from elite backgrounds and they are “very likely to have some Communist Party connection”.
“There are 90 million Communist Party members here in China. Most of them do not have a role in government and many of them are ordinary people,” she said. “It is likely that students from those families have connections with the Communist Party, even though they may not be a member themselves.”
The Chinese government is yet to publicly respond to the Trump administration’s move.
The U.S. will begin revoking visas of Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 28, 2025
The action against Chinese students comes at a time of growing friction between Washington and Beijing after Trump accused China of exploiting the US on trade and triggered a tariff war upon returning to the White House for a second term.
US House of Representatives Republicans have also deemed ties between US and Chinese academic institutions to be a threat to national security.
Earlier this month, Michigan Congressmen John Moolenaar and Tim Walberg pressed Duke University in the US to end its relationship with Wuhan University in China over concerns about technology transfer.
Moolenaar and Walberg claimed that the educational partnership created a “direct pipeline between US innovation and China’s military-industrial complex”.
Trump administration’s assault on higher education
Rubio’s announcement adds to more general uncertainty for international students in the US, who have faced intensifying scrutiny over recent months amid the administration’s wider assault on higher education institutions.
On Tuesday, the White House also temporarily suspended the processing of visas for foreign students, ordering embassies and consulates not to allow any additional student or exchange visas “until further guidance is issued”.
The State Department also said it plans to “issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applications”.
Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s approval to enrol international students. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the move, which comes in response to a tussle between the White House and Harvard over the school’s handling of pro-Palestine protests and diversity programmes.
This latest crackdown on foreign students also comes as Rubio and the State Department have sought to rescind hundreds of education visas over alleged minor legal infractions, political advocacy, or incendiary speech by visiting students.
Many of those targets for visa revocations and arrests have been students who participated in pro-Palestine and anti-Gaza war protests that have erupted on campuses across the US since Israel’s onslaught against the Palestinian territory.
Others targeted by the US government are people with indirect links to Palestine or those who have shown support for the Palestinian cause on social media.
The Trump administration accuses them of spreading anti-Semitism on campus – a claim students, lawyers and activists deny.