Trump embraces Australian retirement system backed by Larry Fink

The world’s most-envied retirement plan has another high-profile booster: President Donald Trump.

Riding high off public enthusiasm for the Trump Accounts for children, Trump last week renewed his focus on their parents and grandparents. And he said he’s looking to Australia’s private pensions, known as superannuation funds, for inspiration to reform the ailing US retirement system.

The president has repeatedly praised the country’s employer-funded, privately run system in recent months. But last week, he said he ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to study the model as part of their discussions with Congress about how to expand the US retirement system.

“They have a plan in Australia, which people really like. It’s really worked out very well,” Trump said on July 6, when he also met with BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, a vocal champion of Australia’s model for several years. “We’re going to be talking about that with Congress and see if we can implement it.”

Asset managers and retirement policy experts alike often look with envy on Australia’s rapidly growing $3.1 trillion retirement system. In the early 1990s, that country passed legislation that required employers to supplement workers’ wages with........

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