President Donald Trump took a surprising stance during a Thursday evening interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, defending the right of Chinese nationals to purchase American farmland.
Addressing the controversial issue, Trump argued that removing these buyers from the market would have a devastating impact on the agricultural economy.
“Look, it’s not that I love it—you want to see farm prices drop, you want to see farmers lose a lot of money? Just take that out of the market,” Trump told Hannity.
The President expanded his comments to include the U.S. education system, suggesting that “good” students from China and other foreign nations who wish to remain in America should potentially be granted green cards. He characterized the idea of barring foreign students as “insulting” and warned of a total collapse of the university system if international enrollment were cut.
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“But if you want to see a university system die, take a half-a-million people out of it,” Trump said. “And you know the ones that won’t be hurt are the top schools… but your lower schools, the ones that don’t do quite as well, they’ll be dying all over the place.”
Acknowledging that his views might clash with traditional GOP platforms, Trump remarked, “Not everybody agrees with me, and it doesn’t sound like a very conservative position… I’m really a common sense guy more than a conservative guy.”
These statements appear to mark a shift from earlier administration policies. In February 2025, Trump signed a national security memorandum specifically designed to limit Chinese investment in sectors like agriculture to protect “real estate near sensitive facilities.”
This was followed by the “National Farm Security Action Plan” in July 2025, which aimed to curb threats from foreign adversaries regarding the food supply.
The President’s latest comments drew immediate fire from within his own party.
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Former Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized the stance on social media, writing on X, “Imagine being an American student and receiving a rejection letter while 500,000 Chinese students get in! And NO it is not ok for China to buy our farmland!!!”
Despite any pushback, Trump doubled down on the idea that fostering these ties is beneficial, noting that he would be open to letting 600,000 Chinese students study in the U.S. because it is “the right thing to do.”
The White House has not yet issued a formal statement regarding how these comments align with the standing executive orders on foreign investment.
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