The agency Donald Trump plans to use to create “the greatest sovereign wealth fund of them all,” committed $654 million in financing to Nigeria in fiscal 2024.
Plans discussed for the US International Development Finance Corp (DFC), include how it could use investments to deliver on Trump’s ambitions.
Backers say the agency, which stands to get as much as $120 billion in capital of its own, will be able to trigger far larger geopolitically driven overseas commitments by some of America’s most powerful institutional investors.
Advisers also see the DFC as a tool to remake how Washington delivers foreign aid and as a way to invest in strategic projects like data centers.
The incoming administration wants the agency to become a much more effective instrument to deploy US economic power, according to former officials, people close to the transition and candidates for the top job at DFC.
Sovereign wealth funds have traditionally been used by countries to invest export revenues for the benefit of their citizens. But those who talk about the DFC as a possible alternative to a US wealth fund see a tool of geopolitical influence.
Among the ideas that Trump and his transition team have discussed is using DFC to fund purchases of assets important to national security, like copper mines and critical minerals stockpiles
Setting up an American equivalent would require action by Congress.
