US must pay off debt before creating a sovereign wealth fund: Trump

DOHA (Reuters) -The U.S. needs to pay off debt before establishing a sovereign wealth fund, President Donald Trump said on Thursday, signalling a potential shift to plans to create a fund within a year.

“I’d rather pay the debt off and then do the fund after the debt’s paid off,” Trump said in Doha during a press conference.

Trump signed an executive order in February ordering the creation of a sovereign wealth fund within the next year. He has previously said revenue earned from tariffs on U.S. imports could form the basis for a wealth fund.

The U.S. debt currently stands at $36.2 trillion, according to the Treasury Department, above the $36.1 trillion limit set by Congress in January.

Typically sovereign funds rely on a country’s budget surplus to make investments, but the U.S. operates at a deficit. Its creation also would likely require approval from Congress.

“You know, these people have no debt,” he said referring to the Gulf region, home to some of the world’s biggest wealth funds. “It’s nice to have the fund. I say to Howard (Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick), we’re a little early because we have debt.”

(Reporting by Andrew Mills; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alex Richardson)