U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing the Treasury and Commerce Departments to establish a sovereign wealth fund, which he suggested could potentially acquire TikTok.
“We’re going to launch this within the next 12 months. Our goal is to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters. “The fund will consist of a mix of liquid assets and other holdings within the country as we work to make them available to the public.”
Trump previously proposed the idea of a government-backed investment fund during his presidential campaign, envisioning it as a way to finance major national projects, including infrastructure, manufacturing, and medical research.
Specific details on the fund’s structure and financing remain unclear. However, Trump has suggested it could be funded through “tariffs and other intelligent things.” Typically, sovereign wealth funds are financed by budget surpluses, whereas the U.S. currently operates under a deficit.
Globally, more than 90 such funds manage over $8 trillion in assets, according to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.
Meanwhile, TikTok, which has approximately 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline before a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the platform or face a ban took effect on January 19.
Upon taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order delaying enforcement of the law by 75 days.
He has since stated that he is in discussions with various parties regarding TikTok’s future and expects to make a decision on the app’s fate by February.
