President Donald Trump has intensified his clash with Harvard University, now demanding a $1 billion payment to settle the long-running dispute between his administration and the Ivy League institution. The new figure doubles his earlier request and signals widening distance between both sides as hopes for a settlement appear to fade.
The president escalated tensions late Monday through a social media post in which he criticised Harvard’s conduct during negotiations. Trump insisted that any agreement must include a direct financial payment to the federal government, a condition the university has consistently rejected. He also suggested his administration would prefer to sever ties with Harvard altogether.
On Truth Social, Trump dismissed reports suggesting he had softened his demands. The New York Times had reported that the president was stepping back from requesting a financial settlement, potentially clearing the path for compromise. Trump rejected that narrative, insisting he had not retreated from his position.
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Harvard officials did not immediately comment, the AP indicated in a report.
The latest exchange stresses how deeply rooted the confrontation has become. Trump had previously hinted that a breakthrough was within reach, telling reporters last June that negotiations were progressing positively and that Harvard had behaved “extremely appropriately” during talks. He later revealed that discussions centred on a proposal requiring Harvard to commit $500 million toward building a network of trade schools instead of making a direct government payment.
That proposal has since collapsed. In his recent social media remarks, Trump rejected the trade school plan, describing it as “convoluted” and “wholly inadequate.”
Harvard has remained at the centre of Trump’s broader effort to exert greater federal control over top-tier universities. Over the past year, his administration has slashed billions of dollars from Harvard’s federal research funding and attempted to restrict the institution from admitting international students after Harvard declined to comply with several federal directives issued last April.
The White House has justified its actions by accusing Harvard of allowing anti-Jewish bias to persist on campus.
Harvard challenged the measures through two lawsuits, arguing that the administration was punishing the university for refusing to align with its political and policy positions. In December, a federal judge sided with Harvard, restoring the withdrawn funding and dismissing the antisemitism claims as a “smokescreen.”
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Trump’s renewed pressure on Harvard comes as other elements of his higher education agenda face setbacks. Last fall, the administration introduced a proposal inviting nine universities to join a federal “compact” that promised funding advantages for schools that adopted policies aligned with the president’s priorities. None of the invited institutions accepted the offer. By January, the administration had also dropped its legal defence of an Education Department directive threatening to withhold funding from schools that maintained diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.
Since returning to office for his second term, Trump has made elite universities a focal point of his domestic agenda, arguing that many campuses have become dominated by liberal ideology and anti-Jewish sentiment. His administration has frozen significant amounts of research funding nationwide, a move that has disrupted scientific and medical research programmes that depend heavily on federal support.
Despite the ongoing standoff with Harvard, several universities have struck agreements with the White House to restore funding. Some of those deals included financial concessions, such as Columbia University’s $200 million payment to the government. Brown University also reached a settlement requiring it to contribute $50 million toward state workforce development initiatives.
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