US eyes buying TikTok as Trump signs order to set up sovereign wealth fund

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to set up a sovereign wealth fund, which he says could be used to buy TikTok, instructing the US Treasury and Commerce Departments to create the fund, which aims to generate money from government assets.

"We're going to establish this within the next 12 months. We're going to monetise the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters. 

"There will be a combination of liquid assets and assets that we have in this country as we work to bring them out for the American people."

Trump had previously floated the idea of such a government investment vehicle as a presidential candidate, saying it could fund "great national endeavours" such as infrastructure projects, including highways and airports, manufacturing, and medical research.

Details on how exactly the fund would operate and be financed were not immediately available, but Trump had previously suggested it could be funded by "tariffs and other intelligent things." Typically, such funds rely on a country's budget surplus to make investments, but the US operates at a deficit.

There are over 90 such funds worldwide managing more than $8 trillion in assets, according to the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds.

TikTok, which has about 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline just before a law requiring its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban took effect on 19 January.

After taking office on 20 January, Trump signed an executive order seeking to delay enforcement of the law by 75 days.

Trump has said that he is in talks with multiple parties over TikTok's purchase and is likely to make a decision on the popular app's future in February.