WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump has tasked his new treasury and incoming commerce secretaries with developing plans for a U.S. sovereign wealth fund. However, the nation's substantial debt, exceeding $36 trillion, may pose a significant hurdle.

More than 20 states in the U.S. already have their versions of a sovereign wealth fund, Alaska's being the largest.

Nations with booming state-owned energy resources and budget surpluses like Norway, China and Saudi Arabia have hundreds of billions, sometimes trillions of dollars in their funds.

In the U.S., energy resources are mostly privatized. More broadly, finding cash to invest would be difficult considering the U.S. has more than $36 trillion in debt—not to mention Congress faces the task of raising the debt ceiling by mid-March to prevent a default.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the incoming commerce secretary, likely to be Trump's nominee Howard Lutnick, have 90 days to present the president with plans to establish a sovereign wealth fund "to 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."

“We are going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people. We are going to put the assets to work," Bessent told reporters in the Oval Office Monday.

Then, it would be up to Congress to act and there's no guarantee lawmakers would be on board. A sovereign wealth fund could undermine the legislative branch's authority over federal spending.

Despite these challenges, Trump made tall promises about where a fund like this could go.

"I think in a short period of time we’d have one of the biggest funds and you know, some of, some of them are pretty large I must tell you, some of the, like the Saudi Arabia fund is on the large side but eventually we’ll catch it," Trump said.

The president also suggested a possible asset for the fund.

"We’re going to be doing something perhaps with TikTok, perhaps not, if we make the right deal we’ll do it otherwise we won’t," Trump said.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, did not respond to a request for comment. TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, have adamantly opposed a sale.

The new deadline for TikTok to be sold or banned in the U.S. is April 5, about a month before the secretaries' 90-day deadline to present their plan for the sovereign wealth fund. Then, if Congress chooses to act on those plans, the legislative process would likely take months.