President Donald Trump on Thursday defended Chinese nationals purchasing U.S. farmland.
When asked about Chinese nationals buying farmland in the U.S., Trump told Fox Newsâ Sean Hannity during a Thursday evening interview: âlook, itâs not that I love itâyou want to see farm prices drop, you want to see farmers lose a lot of money? Just take that out of the market.â
Trump also suggested during the interview that âgoodâ students from China and other foreign countries that âwant to stay in Americaâ could potentially be given green cards. The president also claimed that it is âa very insulting thing to tell a country âwe donât want your people in our schools.ââ
âBut if you want to see a university system die, take a half-a-million people out of it,â Trump said. âAnd you know the ones that wonât be hurt are the top schools, the top schools will be fine, but your lower schools, the ones that donât do quite as well, theyâll be dying all over the place.â
âI frankly think itâs good that people come from other countries and they learn our culture, and many of them want to stay here, I think itâs good,â he continued. âNot everybody agrees with me, and it doesnât sound like a very conservative position and Iâm a conservative guy; Iâm really a common sense guy more than a conservative guy.â
When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to Trumpâs comments on Fox News.
It remains unclear how Trumpâs comments defending Chinese nationals purchasing American farmland square with his administrationâs previous efforts to restrict China from investing in the nation. In February 2025, Trump issued a national security memorandum aiming to limit Chinese investments in several major U.S. sectors, including agriculture.
The U.S. âwill protect our farmland and real estate near sensitive facilities,â and also âstrengthenâ the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.âs âauthority over âgreenfieldâ investments, and restrict foreign adversary access to U.S. talent and operations in sensitive technologies,â according to the presidential memorandum.
Additionally, the Trump administration unveiled a âNational Farm Security Action Planâ in July 2025 in an effort to address âurgent threats from foreign adversaries and strengthening the resilience of our nationâs food and agricultural systems.â
Korean-American commentator Kangmin Lee wrote Thursday in an X post that âthose 500,000 spots should go to American students first.â
âTrump is rightâlower-tier colleges would struggle or close if we stopped letting half a million foreigners in through the university back door,â he added. âBut thatâs not a reason to keep the current system, itâs proof the system is broken. If an American university canât survive without heavy foreign tuition money, it shouldnât exist in the first place.â
âTrump says itâs insulting to tell China their students canât go to our universities, imagine being an American student and receiving a rejection letter while 500,000 Chinese students get in!â Former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said in a Thursday X post. âAnd NO it is not ok for China to buy our farmland!!! And no thatâs not common sense!!!â
In August 2025, Trump said he would let 600,000 students from China study in the U.S. He also told the Daily Caller during an August 2025 interview that permitting Chinese students to study in America is âthe right thing to doâ because fostering positive relations with other countries is a good thing.
Chinese nationalsâ ownership of farmland in the U.S. has increasedsubstantiallyover the past decade, raising concerns among some Republicans about Chinaâs growing influence on the nation.
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