President Donald Trump’s ongoing reforms to the American retirement system are getting inspiration from Down Under.
The Trump administration is working on an Australia-style retirement savings plan for American workers, suggesting the model could put people in “much better shape” by retirement age, the president said Monday.
“I made reference today that Australia has a thing going that’s very good – it’s really worked out very well,” Trump said during a Rose Garden lunch Monday, touting his new “Trump accounts” program for children. “We’re looking at that very strongly. We’re going to be taking that, and we’re going to be maybe making it a little bit sharper, a little bit even better. But we’re going to be doing that.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other administration officials were already working on the proposal, according to Trump, who described it as a companion effort to the children’s investment accounts launched under his sweeping tax-and-spending law.
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“That would be more for grown-ups, as opposed to children,” Trump said earlier Monday in the Oval Office, adding that the administration would discuss the idea with Congress and “try very hard” to get it done.
Australia’s retirement system is built around “superannuation,” a mandatory savings program that requires employers to contribute 12% of a worker’s ordinary earnings into tax-favored retirement accounts managed largely by private funds, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
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Trump first floated interest in the Australian model in December while announcing a $6.25 billion donation from Michael and Susan Dell for Trump Accounts, saying at the time that the administration was studying a plan for “working people.”
The renewed push comes as lawmakers face pressure over the long-term finances of Social Security. The Center for Retirement Research has argued that while Australia’s system is highly rated internationally, the U.S. would still need to shore up Social Security and expand access to workplace retirement plans to meaningfully improve retirement security.
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“It’s something that’s going to be great, I think, if we can get it done,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
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