The US needs more international students not less

Clearly, Covid-19 and Trump's impediments to legal immigration have caused the number of international students likely to study in the US to decline substantially for next year.  The US brings in large numbers of students from China (about 370,000) and India (about 200,000) and this always seemed like a double win for the US since it brings in more revenue for our own system of universities and also expands our soft power in countries that will become major foreign powers later on this century. 

I always thought the US had an enormous surplus of highly talented students who wanted to become professors, so it would be easy to expand the supply of slots in colleges and universities in the US simply by hiring more professors and enrolling more undergraduates.  I also thought there was a nearly limitless supply of students from around the world who wanted to study in the US, where a lot international students came here for college even though they had to pay full out of state tuition with little access to financial aid. 

Since there was a large demand for a college education around the world, and the US had the ability to greatly expand supply, then simply reducing the impediments to studying in the US would create great new academic jobs in the US and improve the quality of education for hundreds of thousands of students around the world.  Alas, Trump seems to want to make this process even more difficult, just at a time when universities in the US are struggling, making the financial impact on the US even more harmful.  Instead of trying to limit the number of international students, the US should be taking steps to make it even easier, not only for students from China and India, but for other developing countries around the globe, not only because it benefits the US but also because it provides benefits for the other countries as well.  Missing out on this win-win situation for everyone should be avoided as much as possible, and hopefully the damage from Trump's policies curbing legal immigration can be quickly reversed.