President Donald Trump was left exposed after a question by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo pointed out a major flaw in his immigration policy.
During the interview shown on Sunday Morning Futures, Trump was showering himself with praise for his proposals to change rules on the green card.
But one question left him defenseless as he realized that China may seek to undermine his grand proposal for attracting smart foreign workers.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I’m doing something else that I think is very exciting. Maybe I’m wrong. A gold card for $5 million you buy a path to citizenship in this country,” Trump told Bartiromo.
“I believe that Apple and all these companies can’t get people to come out of college and come because they get thrown out,” he explained. “You graduate number one at the Wharton School of Finance, or Harvard or Stanford, and you get thrown out of their country. You can’t stay more than one day. And they want to hire these people, but they can’t.”
“They can take that gold card and make it a part of their deal to get these top students, no different than an athlete, like a bonus,” he continued. “You’re gonna have a lot of people buy that.”
After floating his idea for attracting top talent to America, Bartiromo exposed a flaw in his plan with one simple question.
“How do you know the Chinese are not going to take advantage of it and exploit it? Didn’t they do that with student visas?”
“They may, but they don’t have to do that. They can do it in other ways,” he replied.
During the first Trump administration, some 1,000 Chinese student visas were revoked over concerns about links to the country’s military.
U.S intelligence also warned that student spies were stealing secrets from America, according to a report by CNN in 2019.
Trump’s response to the Bartiromo’s tough question suggested he had not fully considered the risks behind his new policy.
In the same interview, the president described Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “great” while criticizing President Volodomyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
“He’s a smart guy, and he’s a tough guy, and he took money out of this country under Biden, like candy from a baby,” he said about Zelensky’s approach with former President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, he spoke highly of his relationship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
“I got along well with Putin. And because I got along well, they say, ‘Oh, he’s so…’ Putin would be the first to say it. Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.”
