If Trump cuts make US bleed scientists, Europe and China will be waiting with open arms

Name: Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?
Uploaded: 2025-03-30T01:00:23.000Z
Duration: 8 min 30 s
Description: Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?

Over 75 per cent of respondents in a recent Nature poll, mostly early-career researchers, want to move ‘anywhere that supports science’

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A steady stream of Chinese-born professors and researchers have left the United States in recent years to take up positions back home. Photo: Shutterstock

Victoria Bela

Published: 9:00am, 30 Mar 2025Updated: 3:56pm, 30 Mar 2025

Drastic shifts in US scientific research policy and funding since President Donald Trump’s return to power could trigger a mass exodus of scientific talent, with three-quarters of respondents to a recent poll indicating they were considering leaving the United States.

The survey by British scientific journal Nature carried out earlier this month found that 1,200 US-based scientists, or more than 75 per cent of respondents, were contemplating leaving the country due to disruptions to science promoted by the Trump administration.

These include proposals for massive federal funding freezes and cuts to scientific research that could crush laboratories across the country.

Respondents to the poll indicated that Europe and Canada were their favoured destinations, and universities in Europe have already begun to capitalise on this drain, according to an article posted by Nature on March 27.

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Why are more Chinese scientists leaving the US to return to China?

While the Nature article did not present a full list of countries respondents were considering moving to, one country that has seen a significant inflow of US-based scientists in recent years is China.