Latest news with #anti-American
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
Global universities luring US-bound students amid Trump crackdown
UNIVERSITIES around the world are seeking to offer refuge to students impacted by United States President Donald Trump's crackdown on academic institutions, targeting top talent and a slice of the billions of dollars in academic revenue in the US. Osaka University, one of the top ranked in Japan, is offering tuition fee waivers, research grants and help with travel arrangements to students and researchers at US institutions that want to transfer. Japan's Kyoto University and Tokyo University are also considering similar schemes, while Hong Kong has instructed its universities to attract top talent from the US. China's Xi'an Jiaotong University has appealed for students at Harvard, singled out in Trump's crackdown, promising "streamlined" admissions and "comprehensive" support. Trump's administration has enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, curbed visas for foreign students, especially those from China, and plans to hike taxes on elite schools. Trump alleges top US universities are cradles of anti-American movements. In a dramatic escalation, his administration last week revoked Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge. Masaru Ishii, dean of the graduate school of medicine at Osaka University, described the impact on US universities as "a loss for all of humanity". Japan aims to ramp up its number of foreign students to 400,000 over the next decade, from around 337,000 now. Jessica Turner, CEO of Quac-quarelli Symonds, a London-based analytics firm that ranks universities globally, said other leading universities around the world were trying to attract students unsure of going to the US. Germany, France and Ireland are attractive alternatives in Europe, she said, while in the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and mainland China are rising in profile. Chinese students have been particularly targeted in Trump's crackdown, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledging to "aggressively" crack down on their visas. More than 275,000 Chinese students are enrolled in hundreds of US colleges, providing a major source of revenue for the schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for US technology companies. International students — 54 per cent from India and China — contributed more than US$50 billion to the US economy in 2023. Trump's crackdown comes at a critical period in the international student application process, as many young people prepare to travel to the US in August to find accommodation and settle in before term starts. Dai, 24, a Chinese student based in Chengdu, had planned to head to the US to complete her master's degree but is seriously considering taking up an offer in Britain instead. "The policies (by the US government) were a slap in my face. I'm thinking about my mental health and I may change schools." Students from Britain and the European Union are also more hesitant to apply to US universities, said Tom Moon, deputy head of consultancy at Oxbridge Applications, which helps students in their university applications. There has been an uptick in applications to British universities from prospective students in the US, said Universities UK, an organisation that promotes British institutions. It said, however, that it was too early to say whether that translates into more students enrolling. Ella Rickets, an 18-year old first year student at Harvard from Canada, said she receives a generous aid package paid for by the school's donors. However, she is concerned that she won't be able to afford other options if forced to transfer. "Around the time I was applying to schools, the only university across the Atlantic I considered was Oxford. "However, I realised that I would not be able to afford the international tuition and there was no sufficient scholarship or financial aid available," she said. If Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students is revoked, she would most likely apply to the University of Toronto, she said. Analytics firm QS said overall visits to its 'Study in America' online guide have declined by 17.6 per cent in the last year — with interest from India alone down over 50 per cent. "If America turns these brilliant and talented students away, they will find other places to work and study," said Caleb Thompson, a 20-year-old US student at Harvard, who lives with eight international scholars. Additional reporting by John Geddie The writers are from Reuters
Mint
4 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Trump's crackdown on academic institutions: Global universities seek to lure US-bound students. Here's how
Universities around the world are seeking to offer refuge for students impacted by U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on academic institutions, targeting top talent and a slice of the billions of dollars in academic revenue in the United States. Osaka University, one of the top ranked in Japan, is offering tuition fee waivers, research grants and help with travel arrangements for students and researchers at U.S. institutions who want to transfer. Japan's Kyoto University and Tokyo University are also considering similar schemes, while Hong Kong has instructed its universities to attract top talent from the United States. China's Xi'an Jiaotong University has appealed for students at Harvard, singled out in Trump's crackdown, promising "streamlined" admissions and "comprehensive" support. Trump's administration has enacted massive funding cuts for academic research, curbed visas for foreign students - especially those from China - and plans to hike taxes on elite schools. Trump alleges top U.S. universities are cradles of anti-American movements. In a dramatic escalation, his administration last week revoked Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge. Masaru Ishii, dean of the graduate school of medicine at Osaka University, described the impact on U.S. universities as "a loss for all of humanity". Japan aims to ramp up its number of foreign students to 400,000 over the next decade, from around 337,000 currently. Jessica Turner, CEO of Quacquarelli Symonds, a London-based analytics firm that ranks universities globally, said other leading universities around the world were trying to attract students unsure of going to the United States. Germany, France and Ireland are emerging as particularly attractive alternatives in Europe, she said, while in the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and mainland China are rising in profile. Chinese students have been particularly targeted in Trump's crackdown, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledging to "aggressively" crack down on their visas. More than 275,000 Chinese students are enrolled in hundreds of U.S. colleges, providing a major source of revenue for the schools and a crucial pipeline of talent for U.S. technology companies. International students - 54% of them from India and China - contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Trump's crackdown comes at a critical period in the international student application process, as many young people prepare to travel to the U.S. in August to find accommodation and settle in before term starts. Dai, 25, a Chinese student based in Chengdu, had planned to head to the U.S. to complete her master's but is now seriously considering taking up an offer in Britain instead. "The various policies (by the U.S. government) were a slap in my face," she said, requesting to be identified only by her surname for privacy reasons. "I'm thinking about my mental health and it's possible that I indeed change schools." Students from Britain and the European Union are also now more hesitant to apply to U.S. universities, said Tom Moon, deputy head of consultancy at Oxbridge Applications, which helps students in their university applications. He said many international students currently enrolled at U.S. universities were now contacting the consultancy to discuss transfer options to Canada, the UK and Europe. According to a survey the consultancy ran earlier this week, 54% of its clients said they were now "less likely" to enrol at an American university than they were at the start of the year. There has been an uptick in applications to British universities from prospective students in the U.S., said Universities UK, an organisation that promotes British institutions. It cautioned, however, that it was too early to say whether that translates into more students enrolling. Ella Ricketts, an 18-year-old first year student at Harvard from Canada, said she receives a generous aid package paid for by the school's donors and is concerned that she won't be able to afford other options if forced to transfer. "Around the time I was applying to schools, the only university across the Atlantic I considered was Oxford... However, I realised that I would not be able to afford the international tuition and there was no sufficient scholarship or financial aid available," she said. If Harvard's ability to enrol foreign students is revoked, she would most likely apply to the University of Toronto, she said. Analytics firm QS said overall visits to its 'Study in America' online guide have declined by 17.6% in the last year — with interest from India alone down over 50%. "Measurable impacts on enrolment typically emerge within six to 18 months. Reputational effects, however, often linger far longer, particularly where visa uncertainty and shifting work rights play into perceptions of risk versus return," said QS' Turner. That reputational risk, and the ensuing brain drain, could be even more damaging for U.S. institutions than the immediate economic hit from students leaving. "If America turns these brilliant and talented students away, they will find other places to work and study," said Caleb Thompson, a 20-year-old U.S. student at Harvard, who lives with eight international scholars.
AsiaOne
14 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Trump administration orders enhanced vetting of all Harvard University-linked visa applicants, World News
WASHINGTON -The US State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Friday (May 30), in a move that significantly expands President Donald Trump's crackdown against the academic institution. In a cable dated May 30 and sent to all US diplomatic and consular posts, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed the immediate start of "additional vetting of any non-immigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose." Such applicants include but are not limited to prospective students, students, faculty, employees, contractors, guest speakers, and tourists, the cable said. The word "any" in the cable text is written in bold format and underlined. Harvard University failed to maintain "a campus environment free from violence and anti-Semitism", the cable said, and that the enhanced vetting measures were aimed at helping consular officers identify visa applicants "with histories of anti-Semitic harassment and violence." While the US has previously required additional vetting of visa applicants from particular countries, applying such procedures against Harvard appears to be an unprecedented use of the visa process against a university that has fallen out of favour with the administration. The additional measures for Harvard-linked applicants were first reported by Fox News, but the cable itself has not been previously reported. The State Department does not comment on its internal documents or communications, a department spokesperson said in an email when asked about the cable. The Trump administration has launched a multifront attack on the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, freezing billions of dollars in grants and other funding, proposing to end its tax-exempt status and opening an investigation into whether it discriminated against white, Asian, male or straight employees or job applicants. Trump alleges top US universities are cradles of anti-American movements. In a dramatic escalation, his administration last week revoked Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge. Harvard argues the Trump administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to its demands to control the school's governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students. Private social media accounts The move is also part of the Trump administration's intensifying immigration crackdown and follows Rubio's order to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants. The top US diplomat also said earlier this week that Washington will start revoking the visas of Chinese students with links to the Chinese Communist Party and those who are studying in critical areas. Implementation of this order will also serve as a "pilot for expanded screening and vetting of visa applicants," the cable adds, raising the possibility of the measures taken against Harvard and visa applicants being used as a template for other universities. The order also directs consular officers to consider questioning the credibility of the applicant if the individual's social media accounts are private, as that may be reflective of "evasiveness," and instructs them to ask applicants to set their accounts to public. The officers can remind the applicant that "limited access to or visibility of social media activity could be construed as an effort to evade or hide certain activity," the cable said. [[nid:718591]] The cable instructs the consular officers to consider any information about the applicant that does not raise to the level of inadmissibility to ensure that the applicant's claimed purpose of travel is consistent with the visa they are seeking. "If you are not personally and completely satisfied that the applicant, during his time in the United States, will engage in activities consistent with his non-immigrant visa status, you should refuse the visa...," the cable said. Such a recommendation would follow comments from Rubio in recent months saying he has personally revoked the visas of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, including students, because they got involved in activities that go against US foreign policy priorities. "If you're coming here to create problems, you're probably going to have a problem," Rubio told reporters on April 7. "We're not going to continue to be stupid enough to let people into our country who are coming here to tear things up."
HKFP
18 hours ago
- Business
- HKFP
‘Digital blitz': Misinformation on social media casts shadow on US-China trade truce
From false claims of Americans panic-buying Chinese goods to bot-driven attacks on US brands, a tide of misinformation is casting a shadow over a temporary trade truce between Washington and Beijing. The world's two biggest economies agreed earlier this month to pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, a surprise de-escalation in their bitter trade war following high-level talks in Geneva. But an alternate reality is unfolding across social media platforms, including China's Douyin and Weibo, where a surge of falsehoods is fueling anti-American sentiment that could undermine the fragile truce. One online video, which garnered millions of views across those platforms and TikTok, claims to show panicked American shoppers snapping up Chinese-branded television sets in the aftermath of trade tensions. But in reality, that was old footage from 2018 showing Black Friday shopping frenzy at a US supermarket. The falsehood was further amplified by Chinese state media outlets, including China Daily, which ran headlines such as: 'Americans are starting to stock up like crazy amid tariffs and snapping up Chinese-branded TVs.' A news clip on its website — more recycled footage from 2018 — bears a 'file footage' watermark in the upper left corner, apparently to shield the outlet from legal liability. Other unfounded claims emerged on Chinese platforms about Americans flying to China to shop for Chinese goods, and that US citizens — reeling from the economic fallout of the trade war — were queuing up to purchase supplies in bulk. 'These narratives are almost certainly curated by the state, which has become increasingly fluent in harnessing social media,' Andrew Mertha, director of the SAIS China Global Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP. '(They) help align Chinese public opinion with governmental strategy, in this case demonstrating — albeit inaccurately, certainly prematurely — that 'the US is already feeling the pain, so China must stay the course.'' Economic jitters US President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs have sent jitters through the world economy, unnerving investors and roiling financial markets. Under the May 12 truce, the United States agreed to temporarily reduce the tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from 145 percent, while China said it would lower its import duty on American goods to 10 percent from 125 percent. Some of the false narratives emerged before the agreement but have continued to spread online, fueling confusion and a broader wave of information chaos. 'A lot of friends in China asked me: Are there no eggs in the United States? Is it very unsafe? Are people rushing to buy things? Have you stockpiled anything?' Vivian Wei, a Chicago-based content creator, told AFP. 'Some people even (suggested) not to come to the United States for tourism or study.' The rumors prompted Wei to tour several supermarkets across Chicago, only to find shelves stocked. While American shoppers seemed unfazed by the swirl of online misinformation, Wei observed that the 'Chinese were getting very excited.' 'Digital blitz' Last month, disinformation security firm Cyabra uncovered an anti-US influence campaign on the Elon Musk-owned X involving thousands of fake or bot-operated accounts. They targeted global brands such as Gucci, Chanel and Amazon, amplifying the unfounded narrative that they produced goods in China while branding them as 'Made in France' or 'Made in Italy.' The accounts blamed Trump's trade policies for enabling such deceptive marketing practices, while urging consumers to ditch those brands and purchase products directly from China. 'This was a digital blitz. A third of the accounts weren't real, but the backlash they triggered was,' Dan Brahmy, chief executive of Cyabra, told AFP. 'Fake profiles hijacked luxury brands, pushed anti-US narratives, and steered buyers away without raising suspicion. That's what makes it effective.' Last month, AFP also uncovered viral TikTok videos by Chinese content creators promoting the spurious claim that international luxury brands were secretly manufacturing their products in China. The targeted brands did not respond to the claim, which appeared to be part of a sprawling campaign exploiting US-China trade tensions to market counterfeit luxury goods. The false narratives are unlikely to fade as trade negotiations continue, experts say. 'I believe these narratives will continue and will evolve in parallel with strengthening the Chinese government's negotiating position,' said Mertha from Johns Hopkins University.
Dubai Eye
18 hours ago
- Business
- Dubai Eye
Trump's tariffs to remain in effect after appeals court grants stay
A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the most sweeping of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Thursday, a day after a US trade court ruled that he had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said it was pausing the lower court's ruling to consider the government's appeal, and ordered the plaintiffs in the cases to respond by June 5 and the administration by June 9. Wednesday's surprise ruling by the US Court of International Trade had threatened to kill or at least delay the imposition of Trump's so-called Liberation Day tariffs on imports from most US trading partners and additional tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China. The latter was related to his accusation that the three countries were facilitating the flow of fentanyl into the US. The trade court's three-judge panel ruled that the Constitution gave Congress, not the president, the power to levy taxes and tariffs, and that the president had exceeded his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law intended to address threats during national emergencies. Senior Trump administration officials had said they were undeterred by the trade court's ruling, saying they expected either to prevail on appeal or employ other presidential powers to ensure the tariffs go into effect. Trump has used the threat of charging US importers costly tariffs for goods from almost every other country in the world as leverage in international trade talks, a strategy the trade court's ruling would upend. The trade court ruling had not interfered with any negotiations with top trading partners that are scheduled in the days ahead, Trump's administration said. Trump himself wrote in a statement shared on social media that he hoped the US Supreme Court would "reverse this horrible, Country threatening decision" of the trade court, while lambasting the judicial branch of government as anti-American. Many US trading partners offered careful responses. The British government said the trade court's ruling was a domestic matter for the US administration and noted it was "only the first stage of legal proceedings". Both Germany and the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, said they could not comment on the decision. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the trade court's finding was "consistent with Canada's longstanding position" that Trump's tariffs were unlawful. Financial markets, which have whipsawed in response to the twists and turns in Trump's chaotic trade war, reacted with cautious optimism to the trade court ruling, though gains in stocks on Thursday were largely limited by expectations that the court's ruling faced a potentially lengthy appeals process. Indeed, analysts said broad uncertainty remained regarding the future of Trump's tariffs, which have cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs, according to a Reuters analysis. Some sector-specific tariffs, such as on imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles, were imposed by Trump under separate authorities on national security grounds and were unaffected by the ruling. The Liberty Justice Center, the nonprofit group representing five small businesses that sued over the tariffs, said the appeals court's temporary stay was a procedural step. Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel for the center, said the appeals court would ultimately agree with the small businesses that faced irreparable harm of "the loss of critical suppliers and customers, forced and costly changes to established supply chains, and, most seriously, a direct threat to the very survival of these businesses". A separate federal court earlier on Thursday also found that Trump overstepped his authority in using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for what he called reciprocal tariffs of at least 10 per cent on goods from most US trading partners and for the separate 25 per cent levies on goods from Canada, Mexico and China related to fentanyl. That ruling was much narrower, however, and the relief order stopping the tariffs applied only to the toy company that brought the case. The administration has appealed that ruling as well.
