What to do about TikTok? President Trump has a suggestion. He's saying the U.S. could take the money it gets from tariffs on Canadian, Chinese and Mexican goods and use it to establish a "sovereign wealth fund."
Nobody knows exactly what that might be but several Middle East and Asian nations have similar funds, allowing them to make direct investments with government money, bypassing the usual Congressional appropriations process, according to Reuters.
Trump signed an executive order yesterday ordering the creation of the fund, directing the Treasury and Commerce Departments to figure out how to do it. He gave them 90 days to come up with a plan.
"We're going to create a lot of wealth for the fund," Trump told reporters, Reuters said. "And I think it's about time that this country had a sovereign wealth fund."
Bloomberg had reported earlier that Trump was thinking of converting the U.S. International Development Finance Corp (DFC) to function similar to a sovereign wealth fund.
Trump said in his executive order that the fund would "promote the long-term financial health and international leadership of the United States."
He has said previously that a similar fund could be used for big projects that currently have to seek funding through Congressional appropriations and that generally rely on taxpayer funding.
The order said the fund would "promote fiscal sustainability, lessen the burden of taxes on American families and small businesses, establish economic security for future generations, and promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally."
TikTok is currently operating under an extension authorized by Trump, allowing it to continue operating for 90 days despite a law that required it to be shut down unless it was sold to a non-Chinese company.
More than 170 million Americans are registered users of the platform and thousands more are content creators who produce videos and other short bits that keep millions of fans entertained. Those content creators are said to be "terrified" at the prospect of a shutdown, which would put them out of business, at least for awhile.