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The United States will let 600,000 students from China study at American colleges, former President Donald Trump said on Monday, potentially signaling a thaw in the U.S. relationship with Beijing following months of heightened tensions.

Trump, speaking from the White House, suggested that a degree from an American college was not out of reach for Chinese nationals even as his administration ramped up pressure on Beijing with tariffs and threatened new ones.

“I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students. We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important,” Trump said in a meeting with reporters. “But we’re going to get along with China.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further details on Trump’s comments, which were not on the agenda for a meeting scheduled in the morning.

The former president has made efforts in recent months to paint a narrative of a fair and even-handed U.S.-China relationship on trade and economics. Last week, he said the U.S. had raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent. The move, he said, was in retaliation for China’s 125 percent tariff on all American exports.

As of Monday afternoon, no government officials had commented on Trump’s remarks.

The former president has made clear in recent months that he would like to host a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I would like to meet him this year. And it’s very possible. It’s very possible, yes,” Trump said on Monday, when asked about the prospect of a summit.

“When you look at the Chinese situation, it’s a very good relationship. We’re taking in, from China, hundreds of billions of dollars, because of the tariffs and different things. It’s a very important relationship. It’s a much better relationship economically than it was before with Biden. But he allowed that. They just took him to the cleaners.” Trump, speaking from the White House, suggested that a degree from an American college was not out of reach for Chinese nationals even as his administration ramped up pressure on Beijing with tariffs and threatened new ones.

“I hear so many stories that we’re not going to allow their students. We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important,” Trump said in a meeting with reporters. “But we’re going to get along with China.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further details on Trump’s comments, which were not on the agenda for a meeting scheduled in the morning.

Trump has walked back previous remarks from his own administration that suggested the U.S. would revoke visas from Chinese nationals in the coming months. Last month, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. would “aggressively revoke” visas from Chinese nationals, particularly those suspected of working for the Chinese Communist Party or in sensitive research fields. At the time, Trump was non-committal about the proposal, which raised ire from universities that saw the loss of international talent as a possible hit to funding and research.

In June, Trump told reporters he had “always been in favor” of allowing Chinese students in the U.S., a marked departure from the tone of his own government.

His new promise, which would more than double the 270,000 Chinese nationals already studying in the U.S., may offer a lifeline to universities that lost international talent during the Trump administration and the pandemic. A surge of 600,000 students would bring billions of dollars to American schools from tuition and spending on living expenses.

Trump’s comments came moments ahead of a scheduled meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.