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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the United States would open its doors to 600,000 Chinese students to attend college in the U.S. just as trade tensions have been rising in recent months.

The president made the announcement from the White House while lecturing on foreign policy and US-China relations, hinting at a softening of relations even as he pressed Beijing with a wave of tariffs and threatened additional curbs.

“We’re going to allow their students to come in,” Trump told reporters. “It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China.”

The President’s comments came as negotiators in Geneva have been working to keep the two largest economies in the world from taking additional steps on trade. Earlier this year, the US implemented a 145 percent tariff on all Chinese goods coming into the US, and in response, Beijing levied a 125 percent tariff on all US goods.

Washington’s plan to levy a 200% tariff on Chinese-made magnets

In the weeks leading up to the president’s comments last week, Trump said he would likely raise the tariff to 200 percent on Chinese-made magnets, as Beijing had “the total monopoly in the world on magnets.”

“They took it away from us over the years,” Trump said. “We never produced them, we never protected our company, we let China go in and get very rich, and we have to start making them again, and it’ll probably take us a year to have them.”

At present, there are roughly 270,000 Chinese students enrolled in US colleges. Trump’s commitment to admitting 600,000 more would double that number, bringing an influx of tuition to a college system that could likely use it.

Trump’s announcement seemed to be a turn from previous stances within his own administration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced plans to “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese nationals tied to the Chinese Communist Party or research deemed sensitive to the US.

Trump also appeared to back down from that threat in June, saying in a statement that he “has always been in favor” of Chinese students coming to the US.

Trump’s Monday announcement further distanced himself from harsher visa policies towards China. Still, Trump appeared open to a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying last week he would like to see him “this year.”

“We’re taking a lot of money in from China because of the tariffs and the different things,” Trump said, later adding, “It’s a very important relationship … We have a much better relationship economically than we had with Biden. But he allowed that. They just took him to the cleaners.”

Tariffs remain a key sticking point with China, and by following his announcement with a protracted discussion on tariffs, Trump appeared to signal his administration would not soften their stance on the issue. At the same time, higher education could also act as a diplomatic vehicle for the US, a way to expand soft power while not necessarily lifting a finger in the industrial competition between the two nations.

Universities across the US have been hit hard with enrollment and financial disruptions due to the pandemic, and an influx of international students, especially those from China, would be a welcome relief. International students spend upwards of $30 billion a year on tuition and housing in the US, numbers that would likely grow with Trump’s commitment.

A still from a previous video of former President Donald Trump. (Photo by BIP Executive Office Pool/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The push and pull of Beijing’s relationship with Washington has hit universities hard, with large groups of Chinese students becoming common on many campuses. International students contributed $40 billion to US colleges in 2018 alone, but many universities are still bleeding out from COVID-era changes.

Trump himself appeared to recognize the pull that universities have, saying that it was important to allow foreign students in so that “they’re not all going to Europe and Russia.”

“You take a look at the schools in this country. If we don’t let in the students, what are these schools going to do? You take a look at Harvard, take a look at Yale, take a look at MIT, all those schools are going to have to close their doors if we don’t let in the students,” he said.

The comment was a not-so-veiled shot at Harvard in particular, where Trump’s son Barron and daughter-in-law, first lady Melania Trump, are still enrolled. (The school remains open)

Education could still be an avenue of soft power for the US, as Trump suggested. His new commitment could benefit universities that have been hit hard by COVID, as foreign students in China especially come to campuses across the US in search of both education and experience.

It would also provide relief to China, which can no longer send the same number of students abroad as their government previously did. A Trump-Xi meeting may still be far off, but if Beijing and Washington continue on their current path, it will be those universities and students who feel the brunt of that competition more than anyone else.