Trump says Harvard deal is close, university will pay US$500 million

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration was close to a deal with Harvard University that would include a US$500 million payment by the Ivy League institution, after months of negotiations over school policies.

The administration has been wrangling with several prestigious universities, threatening to withhold federal funds over issues including pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, campus diversity and transgender policies.

“We are in the process of getting very close,” Trump told reporters at an event in the Oval Office. “Linda is finishing up the final details,” he said, referring to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

“And they’ll be paying about US$500 million and they’ll be operating trade schools. They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things, engines, lots of things,” he said. He offered no further details on the deal.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard had no immediate comment on Trump’s remarks.

Rights advocates have raised free speech, privacy and academic freedom concerns over the Trump administration’s probes into universities.