The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | May 29th, 2025: U.S. Takes Aim At CCP Influence On Campus & A Legal Blow To Trump's Trade Plan
Thu, 29 May 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: The Trump administration tightens the screws on Chinese influence in American academia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces sweeping visa revocations targeting Chinese nationals tied to the Chinese Communist Party or those working in sensitive research areas. The move could upend the $50 billion international education industry and choke off a vital talent pipeline for U.S. tech. A federal court blocks a key part of President Trump's aggressive tariff agenda. Judges rule that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing duties on nearly all U.S. trading partners, a decision that could reshape the future of American trade policy and land the issue before the Supreme Court. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold DeleteMe: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you text PDB to 64000. Message and data rates apply Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What new policy is the U.S. implementing regarding Chinese students?
It's Thursday, the 29th of May. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with a major policy shift at the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S.
Chapter 2: How will the visa revocation affect U.S. education and tech sectors?
will begin aggressively revoking visas for Chinese nationals, specifically targeting students with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, or those studying in sensitive fields. Later in the show, a legal blow to President Trump's tariff agenda as a federal court steps in to block most of the tariffs. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
We begin with the Trump administration moving to curb Beijing's influence on US campuses, announcing a sweeping plan to revoke student visas for Chinese nationals linked to the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, or involved in sensitive research fields. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the crackdown on Wednesday, framing it as a national security measure.
The move could disrupt the $50 billion international education industry and sever a key recruitment channel for U.S. tech firms. many of which have relied on Chinese nationals in research and engineering, despite growing concerns over intellectual property theft and espionage.
Well, to be fair, the intellectual property theft and espionage by the Chinese regime has been going on for several decades, so you could argue the U.S. government is a little late to the party. The State Department, Rubio said, will coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security to, quote, "...aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students."
And if there was any doubt about just how aggressive the move will be, Reuters reported on Tuesday that the State Department had already halted new appointments for student and exchange visitor visas, citing an internal memo. The directive marks a dramatic escalation in President Trump's broader effort to confront Chinese influence in American institutions.
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Chapter 3: What are the potential consequences of the U.S. crackdown on Chinese influence?
For years, lawmakers and intelligence officials have warned that China's academic exchange programs are essentially Trojan horses, vehicles for espionage, intellectual property theft, and illicit tech transfers. Now, Washington appears to be answering that alarm with focus.
Many of the targeted students are believed to be tied to Chinese state-backed initiatives aimed at infiltrating American research labs and siphoning off proprietary technology, raising red flags not just in universities, but across the defense and tech sectors.
Notably, the administration has already moved to revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students, many of them Chinese, citing alleged ties to the CCP, though that decision is currently under judicial review after being temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
Meanwhile, the administration has stepped up its broader immigration enforcement measures, intensifying social media screenings for visa applicants and accelerating deportation efforts under Trump's immigration mandate. Beijing, as you might suspect, isn't taking this move lightly. China's foreign ministry vowed to, quote, firmly safeguard the rights of its students abroad.
But the blowback isn't just coming from overseas. One Chinese-born human rights researcher, now based in the U.S., acknowledged Beijing has exploited American academic openness in the past but warned that this new policy could be self-defeating. She stated, quote, this risks undermining America's longstanding position as the global leader in scientific innovation.
Looking at the numbers, Chinese student enrollment in the U.S. fell to 277,000 last year, down from nearly 370,000 in 2019. Between tightened visa policies, strained diplomacy, and COVID-era hangover, more students are looking to Europe or heading back to China post-graduation rather than sticking around.
I'd like to point out that this is not the first time that Trump's team has sought to roll back Beijing's soft power incursions into American higher education.
During his first term, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spearheaded efforts to shut down what are known as Confucius Institutes, which are CCP-funded cultural centers on American campuses, accusing them of peddling, quote, global propaganda and malign influence.
Now, with tensions again escalating between the world's two largest economies, the latest directive signals that there's no appetite for soft peddling. The trade war may have cooled, possibly, but Trump's second term, well, continues to prioritize curbing Chinese influence. All right, coming up next, a U.S.
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Chapter 4: What does the court ruling mean for Trump's tariff agenda?
For one, they declared that America's trade deficits don't qualify as a sudden emergency since the U.S. has run trade deficits for nearly 50 straight years. The court also noted that the tariffs did little to actually address the problems that they were supposedly meant to fix. The decision stems from a combined lawsuit by five small businesses and 12 U.S.
states, just two of at least seven legal challenges currently pending. The ruling leaves in place some other Trump tariffs, like those on foreign steel, aluminum, and autos, but only because those were imposed under different laws requiring Commerce Department investigations, not presidential discretion.
As for what happens next, well, the case will almost certainly be appealed and could ultimately land in the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the ruling creates uncertainty, trading partners may hold off on concessions, and companies may shift supply chains while the legal battle plays out. Bottom line, the courts are pushing back, and Trump's trade war just got more complicated.
And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Thursday, 29th of May. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. Finally, if you're thinking to yourself, you know, I sure love the PDB, but I wonder if I could listen to the show ad-free. Well, you're in luck. To listen to the show ad-free, it's simple.
Just become a premium member of the President's Daily Brief by visiting pdbpremium.com. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.
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