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
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
Full Episode
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.
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.
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.
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