US President Donald Trump has praised the contributions of Chinese students to colleges across the country and acknowledged that the institutions would struggle without the students' financial support, stating that he would be open to allowing 600,000 Chinese students into US universities as part of trade talks.

Trump first made the comments during a meeting in the Oval Office on Monday with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

"I hear so many stories about 'we are not going to allow (Chinese) students,' but we are going to allow their students to come in. We are going to allow it. It's very important — 600,000 students."

His remarks appeared to be a U-turn on previous moves by the Trump administration earlier in the year to limit foreign and Chinese students already studying or planning to come to US colleges.

The administration considered plans to block foreign enrollment at Harvard University and added to a list of reasons why foreign students should not study in the US.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Chinese students, the second-highest source of international students in the US, would see extra vetting and could have the State Department revoke their visas if they were tied to the Communist Party of China.

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his comments from Monday.

While sitting next to Rubio, he said he was "honored" to have Chinese students in the US, The Associated Press reported.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that China hoped the US would act on Trump's commitment to welcoming Chinese students, stop groundlessly harassing, interrogating or repatriating them, and earnestly protect their legitimate and lawful rights and interests.

However, Trump's comments drew criticism from key figures in his Make America Great Again base, such as US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laura Loomer, a far-right adviser.

But Trump admitted at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting that international students were, in fact, helping to keep some US schools afloat.

"And you know what would happen if they didn't (come)? Our college system would go to hell very quickly and it wouldn't be the top colleges," Trump said.

International students studying at US colleges and universities contributed $43.8 billion to the economy and supported 378,000 jobs during the 2023-24 academic year, according to data from NAFSA, an association of international educators.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning warned on Aug 22 that Chinese students arriving in the US recently went through unfair treatment. Some were detained for more than 70 hours and repeatedly forced to answer questions that had nothing to do with their purpose of travel to the US. Some students' visas were even revoked.

Professor James Millward teaches intersocietal history at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, and specializes in Chinese, Central Asian and world history.

"It is important for young people in the US and China to interact and learn about each other … As societies, both the US and China should be encouraging study abroad and other academic and cultural interactions, now more than ever," he told China Daily.