Trump Approves US Sharing Criminal Data with Visa Waiver Program Countries

Summary

President Trump has approved a plan for the United States to share criminal data with member countries of the Visa Waiver Program.Zhitong This move is part of a broader context of Trump’s recent activities, which include navigating various legal challenges and investigations, managing international relations transactionally, and involvement in family-related business ventures facing scrutiny.Reuters+ 3

Impact Analysis

This looks like a simple security policy, but it’s classic Trump playbook. He’s turning data into a currency for diplomatic leverage. By requiring allies in the Visa Waiver Program to engage in criminal data sharing, he’s reinforcing a transactional ‘pay-to-play’ model for security cooperation.Zhitong The immediate market impact is negligible, but the signal is important. It’s another step in national security becoming a data and technology game.

The real play here isn’t geopolitical forecasting; it’s the contractors who will build and manage these data-sharing systems. This reinforces the long-term thesis for owning firms in identity verification, data analytics, and security services catering to government clients. It’s a small data point, but it confirms the secular trend of states investing heavily in technological sovereignty and screening. I’d use this to add conviction to our existing gov-tech positions.