Trump signs order to create US sovereign wealth fund
US President Donald Trump says the fund could be used to help keep TikTok operating.
President Trump on Monday signed an executive order to create a US sovereign-wealth fund, and suggested the fund could be used in unlocking a deal to keep TikTok operating.
“I think in a short period of time, we’d have one of the biggest funds. And you know, some of them are pretty large,” Trump said, referring to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
“I think it’s about time that this country had a sovereign-wealth fund.” Trump didn’t explain what role the fund would play in a potential purchase of TikTok.
“TikTok, we’re going to be doing something, perhaps with TikTok, and perhaps not, if we make the right deal, we’ll do it,” Trump said.
“But I have the right to do that, and we might put that in the sovereign-wealth fund.” Trump allowed TikTok to stay live in the US and has been pressing for a deal to put the Chinese-company’s US operations into a joint venture with American owners. He’s said he wants the US government itself to have a 50 per cent-ownership in the venture, though it is unclear how that would work.
The White House said the order instructs the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department to begin a process to examine the creation of a sovereign-wealth fund.
The president was joined in the Oval Office with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is the controlling shareholder of Wall Street Journal parent News Corp.
“We’re gonna stand this thing up in the next 12 months,” said Bessent. “We’re going to monetise the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people.” Bessent said they planned to study “best practices” of other funds, and it would hold a combination of liquid assets and other US assets.
On the campaign trail, Trump at times mentioned the idea. He called for one that would “invest in great national endeavours for the benefit of all of the American people,” such as infrastructure and medical research.
Sovereign-wealth funds, a catchall term for an investment fund owned by a national government, have become prominent players in global markets. They are particularly dominant investors in private markets such as private equity, private credit and infrastructure, where their long investment horizons and deep pockets have made them sought-after partners.
It isn’t clear where the money for a US sovereign-wealth fund would come from. Most sovereign-wealth funds are made up of surplus revenue generated by natural resources, such as in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. But the US has significant budget and trade deficits. It also has robust private markets, which allow investors to back many of the kinds of initiatives Trump says he wants the new fund to invest in.
In the past, Trump said he would build the fund using revenue from his planned tariffs.
Former president Joe Biden’s White House worked earlier this year on a similar idea of setting up a fund that would provide capital to bolster strategic interests such as early-stage technology and energy security as competition with China heats up.
The Wall Street Journal
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