As the White House explores creating a US sovereign wealth fund, the man who runs the world’s largest one has a clear message: it’s not that simple.
In a Monday interview on Yahoo Finance’s “Opening Bid Unfiltered,” Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway’s $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund, said that replicating Norway’s model would require much more than just ambition or capital.
“You need to allocate capital to it, right?” Tangen said. “What has worked for us in Norway is to have a very long-term view on what we do. It has broad political anchoring. It means that when you have a change in parliament or in government, you do not change the way we invest.”
In a February 3 executive order, President Donald Trump directed the Treasury and Commerce departments to draw up a plan for establishing a sovereign wealth fund to promote “fiscal sustainability,” reduce the tax burden, and “promote United States economic and strategic leadership internationally.”
The agencies had until May to submit recommendations on structure, governance, funding, and investment strategy.
While Trump’s executive order emphasized slogans like “fiscal sustainability” and “strategic leadership,” Tangen said that Norway’s success comes from discipline, transparency, and political continuity.
The country strictly limits how much of the fund can be spent each year — capped at just 3% of the fund’s expected real return — and has made independence and transparency foundational to its model.
“We are the most transparent fund in the world,” Tangen said. “So I think if these factors combine, that has made this a successful venture.”
And while some believe a US sovereign fund could boost domestic markets, Tangen downplayed the potential impact.
“The US stock market is massive,” he said. “For one fund to make such a big difference, I’d be a bit surprised if it made a huge difference in market valuations.”
Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management and the White House didn’t immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comments.
Why Trump’s idea faces steep hurdles
Trump isn’t the first to float the idea of a US sovereign wealth fund.
His executive order follows years of scattered proposals, including plans circulated under the Biden administration to fund national security interests, and Trump’s campaign pledge to create a sovereign wealth fund that would yield a “gigantic profit” that could help “pay down the national debt.”
One US precedent is the Alaska Permanent Fund, which was created using state oil revenues and now pays annual dividends to residents. But scaling that model nationally would require massive capital, strict rules, and buy-in from Congress — all of which are far from guaranteed.
It’s also unclear where the money would come from. Most sovereign wealth funds are seeded with resource surpluses, but the US runs a multi-trillion-dollar deficit.
Trump’s order fact sheet refers to the federal government’s $5.7 trillion in existing assets, including land, but monetizing them would be complicated and politically fraught.
Political analysts say a successful fund, like Norway’s, would likely need bipartisan legislation, long-term governance commitments, and strict transparency.
As Tangen said, those ingredients are hard to replicate, even with ambition and scale.
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