President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the creation of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund Monday, adding the new state investment vehicle could buy embattled social media platform TikTok. Details of how the fund will be established, or where it will get its money from, were not announced. Other state-owned investment vehicles have been financed by government surpluses (Norway’s Government Pension Fund, for example), central bank cash, debt financing and the privization of state assets (the Saudi Public Investment Fund, in the latter three cases). Nevertheless, Trump told reporters his administration will “stand this thing up within the next 12 months.” Of TikTok, he offhandedly suggested: “We might put that in the sovereign wealth fund.” The short-form video app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is facing a U.S. ban over national security concerns. Trump ordered enforcement of the ban delayed 75 days soon after taking office last month, giving its parent company extra time to find an approved buyer or partner. Trump boasted, the day before he took office, of his plans to save TikTok. In a post on Truth Social last month, he said he would like the U.S. to take a 50 percent stake in the massively popular platform, which had 170 million American users as of last month. “GREAT INTEREST IN TIKTOK!” Trump posted Monday night. “Would be wonderful for China, and all concerned.”
