Washington: US President Donald Trump has signed a executive order to create a new state -owned investment fund that could potentially buy the popular video app Tiktok.
With the move announced on Monday, Trump instructed the US Treasury and Trade Departments to set up the fund.
“We will establish this within the next 12 months. We will have to make money on the active side of the US balance for the American people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told journalists. “There will be a combination of liquid assets and assets that we have in this country when we work to bring them out for the American people.”
Trump had previously floated the idea of such a government investment vehicle as presidential candidate and said it could finance “great national efforts” as infrastructure projects, including highways and airports, manufacturing and medical research.
Details of how exactly the fund would work and be funded was not immediately available, but Trump had previously suggested that it be funded by “Customs and other intelligent things.” Such funds are typically dependent on a country’s budget surplus to make investments, but the US operates with a deficit.
There are over 90 such funds around the world that manage more than $ 8 trillion in assets, according to the International Forum for SOVERIGN WEALTH Funds.
Tiktok, which has about 170 million US users, was briefly taken offline just before a law demanding that its Chinese owner, bytedance, either sell it on national security or face a ban, entered into force on January 19.
After joining on January 20, Trump signed an executive order that tried to postpone the enforcement of the law within 75 days.
Trump has said he is in conversations with several parties about Tikkok’s purchase and is likely to make a decision on the future of the popular app in February.
