WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 3 ordering the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, which could potentially serve as an investment vehicle to purchase an interest in Chinese social media app TikTok.
“We have tremendous potential,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during the signing of the order. The president said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, the nominee for commerce secretary, will lead the effort.
Bessent, who was present at the signing, stated that the fund is expected to be operational within the next 12 months.
“I think it’s going to create value and be of great strategic importance,” Bessent said at the signing.
A sovereign wealth fund is a government-owned investment fund, typically funded by a country’s surplus reserves or revenue from natural resources. These funds are often used to support national economic goals and can function like venture capital by investing in various sectors. Notable examples of sovereign wealth funds include those in Norway, China, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally,” Trump said as he signed the executive order on Jan. 20, crediting TikTok, a platform with tens of millions of young users, with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election. He indicated in the order that he wanted to find a solution “that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.”
On Jan. 27, Trump said that Microsoft was one of the companies interested in buying TikTok. He added that there has been “a lot of interest in TikTok” but did not offer details about other companies interested in purchasing it.
