The US Commerce Department has reportedly selected Elon Musk’s former banker Michael Grimes to lead a planned sovereign wealth fund, part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to invest in projects deemed critical to national security, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Grimes left Morgan Stanley after a 30-year career to join the Commerce Department and oversee the fund, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. At Morgan Stanley, Grimes worked with Musk, now a close Trump adviser, on his purchase of Twitter, according to Bloomberg.
The Commerce Department has not commented on the matter as of this writing. Reuters, which first reported on the matter, could not reach Grimes for comment.
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The sovereign wealth fund remains in early planning stages as part of a broader public-private effort to expand institutional investment options, the sources said.
Trump issued an executive order in February advancing the sovereign wealth fund concept, which he initially proposed during his campaign as a mechanism to redirect tariff revenue toward investments in manufacturing, defense technology and medical research.
The Treasury Department appointed JR Gibbens, a Wall Street and military veteran, last month to advise on plans for the fund.
The administration has considered pairing the sovereign wealth fund with the S. International Development Finance Corp and Export-Import Bank to catalyze American investment in areas considered national security priorities, according to one person familiar with the discussions. These priorities include critical minerals, rare earths, manufacturing, technology, and defense sourcing – sectors where China holds dominant market positions that could pose security risks.
The administration has studied models including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and Norges Bank Investment Management as potential templates for the American fund. The fund’s planning would not involve collecting tariff revenue, one of the sources said.
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