On Monday, February 3rd, President Trump signed an executive order to establish the United States’ first sovereign wealth fund, which will be funded through tariffs and other sources of revenue.
Similar to the sovereign wealth funds in other countries, which act as state-owned investment funds, this fund will invest national budgets into financial assets like stocks, bonds, and real estate.
President Trump directed the Treasury and Commerce Departments to create a sovereign wealth fund, indicating the possibility of using it to acquire TikTok’s U.S. subsidiary, owned by the Chinese video company ByteDance.
“We do have other countries with sovereign wealth funds, but they are much smaller in scale. They are not the United States,” Trump stated before signing the order. “We have tremendous potential.”
This marks the first time the U.S. federal government is implementing such a measure.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned, “We aim to complete this plan within the next 12 months. We aim to monetize the assets side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people.”
“I believe this will create value and hold significant strategic importance,” he added.
During the signing of the executive order, Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick stated that the fund would be used to “benefit the American people.”
President Trump had promised to establish such a sovereign national fund during his campaign. He stated that the fund could support “great national projects” such as infrastructure projects like highways and airports, manufacturing, and medical research.
Details on how the fund will operate and be financed are currently unclear.
According to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, there are over 90 such funds globally, managing assets exceeding 8 trillion U.S. dollars.
The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI) reports that several states including Colorado, Alabama, and Texas have established their own wealth funds, often used to support public education.
TikTok has approximately 170 million users in the U.S. Prior to the implementation of a law passed by Congress on January 19th to separate TikTok on national security grounds, the app was briefly taken offline.
After taking office on January 20th, Trump signed an executive order demanding a 75-day delay in the execution of the law. He mentioned ongoing discussions with multiple parties regarding the acquisition of TikTok and possible decisions on the future of this popular app in February.
Over the past 270 days, various U.S. companies have proposed consortium acquisitions of TikTok, all of which have been rejected by ByteDance.