Trump Orders Creation of U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund, Says It Could Buy TikTok

Trump offered little in the way of detail and it was unclear how such a wealth fund would work. Typically such funds rely on a country’s budget surplus to make investments, but the U.S. operates at a deficit. Its creation also would likely require approval from Congress.


Trump had previously floated such a government investment vehicle as a presidential candidate, saying it could fund “great national endeavors” like infrastructure projects such as highways and airports, manufacturing, and medical research.


“We’re going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people,” Bessent said. “There’ll be a combination of liquid assets, assets that we have in this country as we work to bring them out for the American people.”


“Creating a sovereign wealth fund suggests that a country has savings that will go up and can be allocated to this,” said Colin Graham, head of multi-asset strategies at Robeco in London. “The economic rules of thumb don’t add up.”


In another surprise twist, Trump suggested the wealth fund could buy Tiktok, whose fate has been up in the air since a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban took effect on Jan. 19.


Trump has said that he was in talks with multiple people over TikTok’s purchase and would likely have a decision on the app’s future in February. The popular app has about 170 million American users.


“We’re going to be doing something, perhaps with TikTok, and perhaps not,” Trump said. “If we make the right deal, we’ll do it. Otherwise, we won’t…we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund.”