Trump says Harvard University 'starting to behave' on foreign student disclosure

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he believes talks with Harvard University are moving in the right direction and expects the school to soon provide a list of its foreign students.

"We want to have foreign students come, very honored by it, but we want to see their list.

"Harvard didn't want to give us the list. They're going to be giving us the list. Now, I think they're starting to behave, actually, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters at the White House.

Last week, Trump said Harvard should cap foreign student enrollment to about 15% and demanded that the school show its lists of foreign students.

When asked whether the US would allow Chinese students to come into the country, Trump said: "No problem, no problem. It's our honor to have them."

"We want to have foreign students, but we want them to be checked. In the case of Harvard, and Columbia and others, all we want to do is see their list," he said. "Because when we see some of the people that we've been watching, we say where did these people come from?"

Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday to restrict foreign student visas at the Ivy League school.

It said new Harvard students cannot come into the US as nonimmigrants under F, M or J visas. It also directs Secretary of State Marco Rubio to "consider revoking" existing F, M or J visas for current Harvard students "who meet the Proclamation's criteria."

The Trump administration has threatened to freeze federal funding for universities, including Harvard, citing campus protests in support of Palestine and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

The administration has pulled $3 billion in funding and threatened to remove Harvard's tax-exempt status.