Donald Trump signs an executive order to set up sovereign wealth fund.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to create a sovereign wealth fund, the first ever for the country. At the presser, he hinted that the money may be used to buy TikTok with it. A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund comprising assets like stocks, bonds, property, or other financial assets -- meant for use to invest in highways, airports, manufacturing hubs, medical research etc. Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, Abu Dhabi's Investment Authority, Singapore's Temasek Holdings and GIC are some of the examples of sovereign wealth fund.
"We're going to stand this thing up within the next 12 months. We're going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people," he told reporters. "There'll be a combination of liquid assets, assets that we have in this country as we work to bring them out for the American people."
The Sovereign Wealth Fund was Trump's election promise which he said could fund great national endeavors.
According to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, there are over 90 such funds across the world.
US's TikTok plan
TikTok was briefly taken down as the law requires its Chinese owner ByteDance to either sell it to an American owner or face a ban. The law came into effect on January 19. But Trump as he took office on January 20 signed an executive order seeking to delay the TikTok ban in the country by 75 days. Trump said he was in talks with several people over TikTok's purchase and the US government would be able to take a decision about TikTok's future in February.