President Trump said Monday that his administration is working on a plan to launch accounts for adults that would mirror Australia’s retirement savings system.
“We’re going to be doing also something we’re working on later on, and it’ll be also, I think, very popular, and I guess the best definition is they have a plan in Australia, which people really like,” Trump said.
He added that the administration would be talking about it with Congress to see if it can be implemented.
“That would be more for grown-ups, as opposed to children, but it’s something that’s going to be great, I think, if we can get it done,” he said. “And we’re going to try very hard.”
Australia has a superannuation program that requires companies to contribute 12 percent of their workers’ pay into a retirement plan.
Trump said Monday that Australia’s program has “really worked out very well, incredibly well, and very respected.
The president first expressed his interest in this type of program in December while announcing the $6.25 billion donation from the Michael and Susan Dell for the Trump accounts.
“There’s a certain Australian plan that people are liking,” he said at the time. “There’s a plan where, not for children necessarily, but for people, working people, and we are looking at other things different from this. I think this is very unique, but different from this, but very important.”
He said he was looking at it “very seriously.”
Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) has called for Republicans to act on Social Security reform if they keep control of Congress in 2027, sparking pushback and some support.
Republicans have long proposed partial privatization of Social Security as a way to reduce the burden on government coffers.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree the system is facing a crisis, as a Social Security trustees’ report warned that beneficiaries would see their monthly checks cut by 22 percent in 2032 without reform.
However, there’s little agreement on how to change the program, with Republicans focused on defraying costs and Democrats more interested in raising revenue.
