Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.) are pressing the Trump administration over the impact the president’s sweeping trade policies will have on the finances of retirees and people close to retirement.
“The economic chaos triggered by President Trump’s disastrous tariff policy has the potential to decimate retirees’ savings,” they wrote in a letter to the White House on Friday that was obtained by The Hill. “Simultaneously, the Trump Administration has taken a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration (SSA), limiting seniors’ access to their hard-earned benefits.”
“In doing this, the Trump Administration is making it harder for seniors across the country to make ends meet,” they added.
Warren, 75, is the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Wyden, 76, is the top Democrat on the Finance Committee.
The duo addressed the letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Fidelity Investments, the largest provider of 401(k) plans in the U.S., reported this week that average 401(k) balances fell 3 percent, to $127,100, during the first three months of the year. It said average individual retirement account (IRA) balances fell 4 percent to $121,983.
The financial services giant said the slumps were primarily “a result of market swings,” which have been widely attributed to Trump’s unpredictable shifts on tariffs this year.
“President Trump’s trade policy is creating economic chaos,” Warren and Wyden wrote in their letter to Cabinet officials, citing recent remarks from the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell about the nation’s economic outlook amid Trump’s tariff swings.
“Of the 57 million retirees in this country, 77 percent rely on a combination of their savings — often in the form of a 401(k) — and Social Security benefits,” they continued in the letter.
Their letter highlighted cuts to the SSA from the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Dozens of Social Security offices across the country are expected to close this year as part DOGE’s federal government makeover.
The senators have asked Trump officials to provide them with details by Monday on whether the administration has conducted analyses of how the tariff policies are impacting retirees and inflation, as well as how DOGE cuts will impact the ability to access retirement benefits and whether the administration plans to offer additional support on seniors living on fixed incomes.
The White House said earlier this week that the administration sent letters to countries to remind them that the president wants to broker more favorable trade deals while his tariffs are temporarily paused.
