Back

“Other countries have wealth funds,” he said. “We have nothing.”

On Monday, Trump took the first step.
He issued an executive order that announced the planning for an investment vehicle or a
#sovereign #wealth #fund,
which would be financed by the United States government.

Sovereign wealth funds are investment funds owned by an individual state or government typically created from budget surpluses or revenues from oil or other commodities.

These funds may indirectly finance domestic industries as well as a wide range of other investments.

The order calls for the secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, and the secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, to report back with a plan in 90 days. In a news conference on Monday,
Mr. Bessent said the government would create this fund in the next 12 months.

The president and his associates can take their plan only so far.

The establishment of a sovereign-wealth fund, which would use taxpayer dollars or other government funds,
is likely to require an act of Congress.

It’s unclear how exactly the U.S. government would come up with the money to put into it.

While many other countries operate funds that invest domestically and internationally, many of them, particularly those in the Middle East,
have significant proceeds from natural resources like oil or gas to invest.

Other countries, including Singapore, use their budget surpluses.

By contrast, the U.S. government doesn’t have any significant natural resource revenue and has been operating under an annual budget deficit for more than two decades.

Despite a flurry of announcements on tariffs in recent days, neither Mr. Trump,
Mr. Bessent nor Mr. Lutnick mentioned the proceeds of these tariffs as a source of funding.

In September during a speech at the Economic Club of New York,
Mr. Trump pointed to
“money that will be taken in through tariffs” as one key source of funding,
along with
-- “other intelligent things.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-orders-plan-for-a-united-states-sovereign-wealth-fund/