Trump-Bukele Meeting Focuses on Immigration, Security Without Mentioning Bitcoin (BTC)

President Donald Trump met with Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, at the White House on April 14th, focusing on trade and immigration issues, with Bitcoin (BTC) absent from the official agenda. This meeting was Bukele's first official visit during Trump's second term, with immigration issues and security cooperation emerging as key topics. According to a video shared by the President's office on X (formerly Twitter), Trump mentioned the possibility of transferring U.S. domestic criminals to El Salvador's prisons, stating, "We might need to build about five more detention facilities." The Trump administration has been deporting hundreds of foreign criminal suspects to El Salvador under a $6 million agreement, extending the administration's characteristic hardline immigration policy to strengthen international security cooperation. Regarding trade issues, they discussed temporary exemptions for some automotive manufacturers under the recently implemented trade sanctions. Trump stated in a press conference that he is exploring ways to help some automotive companies, adding that time is needed to transfer production bases within the United States. However, discussions about Bitcoin, a key policy for both countries, were not mentioned during the meeting. El Salvador became the world's first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 and has recently been strengthening its national strategic Bitcoin retention policy. President Trump positioned himself as a pro-cryptocurrency candidate during the 2024 election and signed an executive order on March 6th to strategically reserve Bitcoin and secure digital assets in the United States. The U.S. government currently holds approximately 198,000 BTC, valued at around $17 billion, primarily composed of assets seized from the Silk Road and Bitfinex hacking incidents. Meanwhile, El Salvador agreed to gradually reduce government participation in digital assets according to a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of last year. Although the Salvadoran Congress modified existing Bitcoin-related legislation in January, the government continues to purchase BTC daily and expand its national holdings. According to the National Bitcoin Office of El Salvador, the country currently holds 6,147.18 BTC, equivalent to approximately $520.7 million.