If President Donald Trump is successful in finding an American buyer for TikTok, he has signed an executive order instructing the US to begin creating a government-owned investment fund that could be used to benefit from the company, reports Breaking News.
On his first day in office, Mr. Trump issued a directive giving TikTok until early April to find a buyer or partner that he approves of, but he has stated that he wants the US to own 50% of the huge social media company.
TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, is an example of what Mr. Trump may include in a new US sovereign wealth fund, he said while speaking in the Oval Office, reports Breaking News.
“We might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make or we do a partnership with very wealthy people, a lot of options,” he said of TikTok. “But we could put that as an example in the fund. We have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund,” reports Breaking News.
Real estate, equities, and bonds are among the assets that sovereign wealth funds invest in. Usually, they are financed by a nation’s budget surpluses, which the US does not currently have.
According to Mr. Trump, the US may surpass Saudi Arabia in fund size in the future. He also pointed out that many other countries have similar investment funds.
“We’ll catch it eventually,” he assured, reports Breaking News.
According to The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, a London-based organisation composed of over 50 sovereign wealth funds, there are over 90 sovereign wealth funds worldwide that oversee over eight trillion dollars in assets.
According to research from the nonpartisan think tank Centre for Global Development in Washington, there are over 20 sovereign wealth funds at the state level in the United States, reports Breaking News.
The biggest ones, with headquarters in Alaska, New Mexico, and Texas, are funded by oil, gas, and mineral revenues and are utilised to support in-state initiatives like education.
Despite being held by governments, these funds often function as independent organisations with their own personnel and investment plans, according to the centre, reports Breaking News.
The president assigned Howard Lutnick, Mr. Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to build the foundation for the fund’s creation, which would probably need legislative approval.
According to the presidential order, Mr. Trump must receive a strategy for the fund within ninety days, which must include suggestions for investment methods and a governance mechanism, reports Breaking News.
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