President Donald Trump stressed the value of international students in the U.S. during an interview aired on Fox News Monday.  

Fox News host Laura Ingraham pressed Trump on why he wouldn’t curb international student enrollments, particularly from China. Trump told her doing so would “perhaps make people happy” but colleges and universities would “go out of business.”

“You don’t want to cut half of the people, half of the students from all over the world that are coming into our country—destroy our entire university and college system—I don’t want to do that,” Trump said. He also claimed historically Black colleges and universities would “all be out of business.”

“Look, I want to be able to get along with the world,” Trump added.

Ingraham pushed back, raising concerns about Chinese spying and intellectual property theft. But Trump framed welcoming international students as an economic decision.

“We take in trillions of dollars from students,” he said. “You know, the students pay more than double when they come in from most foreign countries. I want to see our school system thrive. And it’s not that I want them, but I view it as a business.”

The annual Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education estimates the economic value of foreign students in the U.S. to be about $50 billion per year.

In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to “aggressively revoke” Chinese students’ visas and intensify vetting for Chinese visa applications. But Trump reversed course this summer and proposed the U.S. allow 600,000 Chinese students into the country, prompting backlash from some members of his base, the Associated Press reported.

The move, and Trump’s reiterated support for it on Fox this week, seem to contradict other actions his administration has taken, such as revoking international students’ visas, arresting international students for First Amendment–protected protests and ramping up scrutiny of international student visa applicants. Some campuses have experienced steep declines in international student enrollments this semester.