Chinese students to retain visas; National Academies seeks to cut red tape in research

Visa access for Chinese students part of pending US-China trade deal

Chinese students will retain access to U.S. universities as part of a pending agreement between the U.S. and China to partially unwind tariffs, according to a June 11 social media post by President Donald Trump.

The post appeared to walk back the State Department’s plan to “aggressively revoke” visas held by Chinese students. The plan was announced in May by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and included a focus on students working in an unspecified set of “critical fields.” Rubio has long advocated for placing restrictions on academic exchanges with China.

There are currently around 277,000 students from China studying in the U.S. China was the biggest source of international students in the U.S. for many years until being surpassed by India in 2023.

The State Department declined to give examples of what fields would be prioritized for scrutiny but indicated the move is partly tied to concerns about technology transfer to China. A spokesperson said the U.S. “will not tolerate the CCP’s exploitation of U.S. universities or theft of U.S. research intellectual property or technologies to grow its military power, conduct intelligence collection, or repress voices of opposition.”

In 2020, Trump issued a policy barring visas for Chinese graduate students and visiting researchers who have ties to certain institutions with connections to the Chinese military. Despite this policy, Trump insisted in his June social media post that the presence of Chinese students in the U.S. “HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!”

National Academies seeking ways to cut red tape in research

As the Trump administration roils the research community with dramatic cuts, some science advocates see deregulation as a rare opportunity for constructive collaboration with the White House. Officials in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have recently said they are looking for ideas on how to lighten the load.

“We cannot resign our research community and the laboratory and university staff who support them to die the death of a thousand ten-minute tasks,” said OSTP Director Michael Kratsios in a May speech at the National Academy of Sciences.

Responding to the administration’s interest in deregulation, the National Academies formed a committee earlier this year that will suggest ways to reduce the administrative burden placed on researchers. Lynne Parker, principal deputy director of OSTP, participated in the panel’s kickoff meeting on May 21.

OSTP is looking at current requirements related to research and is eager to receive actionable and detailed recommendations from the committee to reduce administrative burden, said Parker. “I think a lot of well-intentioned actions or directives have sort of led to this pile-on effect, and so we need to figure out a pathway forward,” Parker said.

“This could be a game-changer for a time when many in the research community are feeling all sticks and no carrots,” said National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt at the kickoff meeting. “This is a chance to actually deliver a win for them.”

“There’s been something like a 170% increase in regulations on research in the past decade,” McNutt said, though she cautioned that much of the increase is due to heightened national security protections that the current administration may not wish to reduce.