The comments mark the latest twist in Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on Harvard over claims of anti-Semitism and bias – claims the university denies, saying that the federal government is actually focused on controlling its hiring, admissions and curriculum.

“Well, we’re in the process of getting very close,” Trump said at the White House. “They’d 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,” Trump said. “You know, it’s a big investment in trade school done by very smart people, and then their sins are forgiven.”

Harvard did not immediately respond when asked about Trump’s comments.

Trump officials have accused Harvard and other schools of promoting so-called “woke” ideology while failing to sufficiently protect their Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests.

In early September, a Boston judge ordered the administration to lift its freeze on approximately US$2.6 billion in federal funds for Harvard, writing that Trump’s department of education “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

Two weeks later, the administration imposed fresh restrictions on Harvard’s access to government money, requiring the university to use its own funds to pay out student financial aid packages that federal officials have promised.

In July, Columbia University agreed to pay US$200 million to the administration and pledged to obey rules that bar it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring.

The University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League institution, also bowed to Trump administration concerns, announcing it would ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.