Trump wants U.S. sovereign wealth fund created, says it could co-own TikTok

President Donald Trump connected Monday signed an enforcement bid directing the U.S. to instrumentality steps to commencement processing a government-owned concern money that helium said could beryllium utilized to nett disconnected of TikTok if he’s palmy astatine uncovering it an American buyer.

Trump signed an bid connected his archetypal time bureau to assistance TikTok until aboriginal April to find an approved spouse oregon buyer, but he’s said he’s looking for the U.S. to instrumentality a 50% involvement successful the monolithic societal media platform. He said Monday successful the Oval Office that TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, was an illustration of what helium could enactment successful a caller U.S. sovereign wealthiness fund.

“We mightiness enactment that successful the sovereign wealthiness fund, immoderate we marque oregon we bash a concern with precise affluent people, a batch of options,” helium said of TikTok. “But we could enactment that arsenic an illustration successful the fund. We person a batch of different things that we could enactment successful the fund.”

Sovereign wealthiness funds put successful assets, specified arsenic stocks, bonds and existent estate. They are typically funded by a country’s budgetary surpluses, which the U.S. presently does not have.

Trump noted galore different nations person specified concern funds and predicted that the U.S. could yet apical Saudi Arabia’s money size. “Eventually we’ll drawback it,” helium promised. Countries similar Norway besides person a akin fund.

In the U.S., much than 20 sovereign wealthiness funds beryllium astatine the authorities level, according to investigation from the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based nonpartisan think-tank. The largest ones — based successful Alaska, New Mexico and Texas — are financed done gross that comes from oil, state and mineral proceeds and utilized to money in-state programs, specified arsenic education. Though these funds are owned by governments, they thin to run arsenic standalone institutions with their ain concern strategies and staff, the halfway said.

Trump enactment Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick successful complaint of laying the groundwork for creating a the fund, which would apt necessitate legislature approval.

Former President Joe Biden’s medication had studied the anticipation of creating a sovereign wealthiness money for nationalist information investments, but the thought did not output immoderate factual enactment earlier helium near bureau past month.

Bessent said the administration’s extremity was to person the money unfastened wrong the adjacent 12 months, and Lutnick said different usage of the money could person been for the authorities to instrumentality an profit-earning involvement successful vaccine manufacturers.

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“The bonzer size and standard of the U.S authorities and the concern it does with companies should make worth for American citizens,” Lutnick told reporters.

TikTok was expected to beryllium banned successful the U.S. past period nether a national instrumentality that forces ByteDance to divest its stakes oregon look a ban. The instrumentality was passed successful April with bipartisan enactment successful Congress and signed Biden. The 2 companies and immoderate users rapidly took ineligible enactment against the statute, which was yet upheld by the Supreme Court past month.

After taking office, Trump, who had attempted to prohibition the fashionable app during his archetypal term, directed the Justice Department to intermission enforcement of the instrumentality for 75 days. The reprieve has fixed the institution much clip to enactment retired a woody with the administration.

Several different investors — including billionaire Frank McCourt and Trump’s erstwhile Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — person spoken publically astir their tendency to acquisition TikTok’s U.S. platform. Trump has said “many people” had besides reached retired to him privately astir it. Last week, helium said Microsoft was 1 of the U.S. companies eyeing the societal media platform.

A San Francisco-based artificial quality startup called Perplexity AI presented a connection to ByteDance past period that would let the U.S. authorities to ain up to 50% of an entity that combines TikTok’s U.S. level with Perplexity’s business, a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance antecedently told the Associated Press. If successful, the connection would let the U.S. authorities to person a sizable involvement successful that entity erstwhile it makes an archetypal nationalist offering of astatine slightest $300 billion.

—Associated Press writer Haleluya Hadero contributed reporting.