Berkeley Heights, New Jersey (CNN) American corporate titans used a collegial dinner with President Donald Trump on Tuesday to press him on to ease immigration restrictions, according to multiple attendees.

And at least during the dinner, it seemed like their coaxing had an effect. After several of the CEOs urged Trump to make it easier to allow "talented" individuals from other countries to come work at their companies in the US, the President said he would consider taking action to assuage their concerns via executive order.

But reached the next morning about the President's comments, a White House official said "no imminent action" is planned to address the CEOs concerns, though the official noted "the President has been clear that he wants a merit-based immigration system to allow the best and the brightest from around the world to immigrate to this country."

Even as he appeared to agree with the executives that more high-skilled immigrants should be allowed to remain in the country, Trump expressed concern that some foreign students were acting as foreign agents, particularly from China, according to one of the attendees. Trump made the remark as part of a long screed on Beijing's trade practices

Trump has said he wants to move the US toward a merit-based immigration system that would allow more high-skilled immigrants to move to the US, but his administration has also taken actions to restrict immigration and tighten requirements, including among that high-skilled population. High-skilled workers applying for H1-B visas saw petition denials and requests for evidence increase last year, for example, following a Trump administration policy change, according to a recent study by the National Foundation for American Policy.

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