On February 3, President Donald Trump enacted a new executive order to establish a US sovereign wealth fund.
During a statement in the Oval Office, Trump expressed, “It’s a very exciting event. We’re going to have a sovereign wealth fund, which we’ve never had.”
The 47th President mentioned TikTok as a potential initial investment, stating, “Other countries have sovereign wealth funds, and they’re much smaller countries, and they’re not the United States.”
“As an example, TikTok, we’re going to be doing something perhaps … and we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make, or if we do a partnership with very wealthy people — a lot of options, but we could put that as an example in the fund.
“We have a lot of other things that we can put in the fund.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who are spearheading the legislative efforts, gave a detailed briefing to the media on its components.
According to the New York Post, Bessent remarked, “We’re going to stand this thing up in the next 12 months. We are going to monetize the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people. We are going to put the assets to work.
“And I think it’s going to be very exciting. We’ve studied best practices that’s done around the world. It will be a combination of liquid assets, assets that we have in this country as we work, work to bring them out for the American people.”
Lutnick, also quoted by the outlet, stated: “The extraordinary size and scale of the US government, and the business it does with companies should create value for American citizens.”
Some of the world’s largest and wealthiest sovereign funds are owned by China and Middle Eastern countries.
In true Trump fashion, the President has ambitious plans for the US wealth fund.
He anticipates, “In a short period of time, we’ll have one of the biggest funds … The Saudi Arabia fund is on the large side, but eventually we’ll catch it. But we’re going to create a lot of wealth for the fund.”
Details on what acquiring TikTok would entail are still unclear.
This development follows just weeks after the popular video platform experienced a brief shutdown in the US before quickly resuming operations.