A set of Boston luxury retailers have expressed their concern that Trump's crackdown on foreign students could lead to a decline in their revenues. Apparently, retailers have discovered that rich, international students are a big part of their most lucrative customer base. The Trump administration cut some 400 student visas.
These retailers include those in fine jewelry, cars, and real estate. Rich foreign students, who also pay full ticket price for their American educations, "pump a staggering $4 billion into Massachusetts annually," The Daily Mail notes.
"If something is trending or popular, many of the international students want it," Michelle Jiang, former client advisor at Burberry, Barney's, and Chanel said. "They don't think much of it before buying." This includes an apparent foreign student spending spree at Bulgari on Boston's trendy Newbury Street during Chinese New Year.
The "fleets of Maseratis" on Commonwealth Ave attest to this as well. Milad Farahani at Boston Foreign Motors said that the international students create a "never-ending line of clients" who are in the luxury car market. Those students just hang onto the cars for the school year after buying them for all cash. Farahani resells them in the fall to new students.
High-end rental properties in the city also see a boon because of the foreign cash. A full two-thirds of the upscale properties at the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, and One Dalton go to the international student set, said a partner at First Boston Realty.
Some of those are priced at $28,000 per month, and those homes could go empty without the big international money—or perhaps owners would be forced to rent them to locals for less.
Boutiques, restaurants, and boba tea places are all worried that come September, they will see a decline in revenue due to a decline in foreign spending. Some of the items they buy are priced lower in the US than they are in their home countries.
The Trump administration has cracked down on American universities' ability to admit foreign students. Harvard University, in Boston, has been told that they are no longer permitted to admit foreign students due to the rampant antisemitism on their campus.
Last year, the United States had 1.1 million international students, with about half of those in graduate programs. The number of international students continues to rise every year.
