.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. will accept 600,000 Chinese students to study in American universities, a move that hints at warmer relations between Washington and Beijing despite a months-long trade standoff.

“We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important. But we’re going to get along with China,” Trump said from the White House on Monday. “I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students.”

Trump made the remarks during a press conference as his administration has taken an increasingly hard line against Beijing in recent months, levying steep tariffs on a range of Chinese-made goods and threatening to enact further restrictions.

The economic standoff has resulted in steep tariffs being imposed by both countries, with the U.S. levying a 145 percent tariff on all Chinese imports in February, a measure that prompted Beijing to counter with its own 125 percent tariff on all U.S. goods. Negotiations between the two countries have broken down as fears mount over a long-term standoff that could damage both economies.

Earlier in May, negotiators in Geneva had agreed to halt further tariffs for the time being, but Trump has threatened to impose fresh levies in the coming months. Last week, he said he was “thinking about a 200 percent tariff” on magnets imported from China, where he said the country has a “total monopoly.”

“China, smartly, went, and they sort of took a monopoly on the world’s magnets. It will probably take us a year to have them,” Trump added.

The latest statement marks a shift from earlier comments by Trump and some of his administration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the State Department would “aggressively revoke visas” for Chinese citizens linked to the Chinese Communist Party or working in sensitive research sectors. The comments were received with alarm in higher education communities, with universities fearing the loss of students and revenue.

Trump has since walked back some of that rhetoric, with the president telling reporters in June that he has “always been in favor” of Chinese students coming to the U.S. for study. Monday’s comments appear to suggest that education will not be allowed to be a casualty of broader political and trade disputes.

Currently, there are about 270,000 Chinese nationals enrolled in American universities. Trump’s 600,000 figure would more than double that, a move that would provide a considerable financial windfall for U.S. institutions already battered by pandemic lockdowns.

The pledge to admit more students came ahead of a scheduled meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung later in the day, where Trump was asked if he would be open to meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I would like to meet him this year,” he responded, though he added, “It’s a much better relationship economically than it was before with Biden. But he allowed that. They just took him to the cleaners.”

“We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important,” Trump said during a news conference at the White House. “But we’re going to get along with China.”

Trump’s comments follow months of escalating tension between the U.S. and China, as both nations have imposed or threatened new levies against each other’s exports. In May, U.S. authorities announced a 145 percent tariff on all Chinese goods. Beijing followed up with its own 125 percent tariff on U.S. exports. While negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, agreed last month to a truce on new tariffs, Trump has repeatedly signaled in recent weeks that he would soon be levying new penalties against China.