Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the latest has also not cut the most drastic moves to reduce the number of international students studying in the United States, which will "actively" revoke Chinese students' visas and review future applicants.

"Under President Trump's leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to actively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with ties to the Communist Party of China or studying in key areas," Rubio said in a statement. "We will also modify visa standards to strengthen review of all future visa applications in the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong."

Depending on how broadly the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security define these standards, the statute may affect many of the 280,000 Chinese high school, university and graduate students currently in the United States.

Rubio doesn't define what his "key areas" mean, but he could mean a student working in areas such as semiconductor engineers who are technology competitors in the United States and China or aerospace. In the first Trump administration, thousands of major graduate students in China were revoked visas, especially if their research was in a cutting-edge field of engineering that could have dual-use applications.

The latest move to cut the number of Chinese students in the United States could further intensify bilateral relations, hurt by another trade war and serious technological competition for artificial intelligence and semiconductor chips.

The withdrawal of Chinese students' visas is another blow to the U.S. higher education system, from which the Trump administration cut billions of dollars. Some smaller private universities and boarding schools have already relied on financially to foreign students, who tend to pay full tuition. For decades, renowned research universities have also been able to recruit from a wide range of talented and well-educated students in China.

Earlier this spring, the Trump administration abruptly terminated the record of about 1,800 international students in the national database, including some Chinese citizens, a move that endangers their student visas and is challenged by dozens of lawsuits nationwide. The termination of the records in the so-called SEVIS database was eventually reversed by a federal judge, but immigration officials said they would still adopt more restrictive policies for foreign students.

The State Department said this week it is suspending interview registrations for student visa applicants to fully screen their social media profiles and motivate a wave of anxiety among Chinese students as they identify student visas to the upcoming fall semester.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry this week called on the United States to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of international students, including Chinese students."

China has been the biggest source of international students in the U.S. for decades, but those numbers have steadily declined after tensions in the U.S. and the global coronavirus pandemic temporarily shut down borders. Last year, the number of students from India overshadowed China.