- During a call among Democratic Party state treasurers on Thursday, officials hammered President Trump over his tariff and trade policies, repeatedly calling him “reckless” and unserious in his approach. The hit to average Americans who are both saving for retirement and college tuition all at the same time has been severe, officials said, and one treasurer urged constituents to “blow up the phones” with calls to congressional leaders in response to the market plunge. “Americans did not vote for a recession,” said Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs.
State treasurers from the Democratic Party who oversee college savings and retiree pension plans are seething over the market rout that followed President Trump’s tariff announcement in the Rose Garden last week and the massive hit to average retail investors in the days since.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, a democrat who oversees two Illinois 529 college savings plans, said families in the state lost more than $1.1 billion in education nest eggs because of the market tanking. Frerichs said people should blame Trump for their investment losses, but added, “Trump doesn’t care.”
“What is the Trump administration going to say to every family whose hard-earned savings are impacted by his whiplash tariffs that have crashed the market?” said Frerichs during a call on Thursday with other treasurers. “Nothing. Or maybe something cold and uncaring like, ‘expect some pain.’”
White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fortune the only interest guiding Trump’s decision making is “the best interest of the American people.”
“President Trump hiked tariffs on China and paused other reciprocal tariffs for 90 days after he and his economic team received good-faith commitments from a majority of our trading partners willing to strike favorable trade deals,” Desai wrote in an email. “The Trump administration remains committed to using every tool at our disposal to address the national emergency posed by chronic trade deficits—including both tariffs and negotiations.”
Conversely, Frerichs said the president’s actions are “stoking fear in the hearts of college students and high schoolers across the country.” Most of them were already worried about paying for college, said Frerichs. Trump’s approach will only cause more pain, he said. “He’s trying to rob them of their futures.”
The combined assets in state-sponsored 529 college savings plans rose 7.9% last year to $508 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). The plans can be used to pay for higher education costs at colleges, universities, and vocational schools. They were broadened in 2017 and now people also use proceeds from the plans to cover tuition at public, private, or religious elementary and high schools. Nationwide, there are 16.8 million plan accounts, according to ICI data.
The market plunge, however, saw $6 trillion vaporized across financial markets after Trump announced new tariffs, ripping through various investment accounts, including 529 plans and retirement accounts.
In Illinois, Frerichs said the number of account holders grew to more than 900,000 with at least $20 billion in assets—before “Trump’s insane trade war,” said Frerichs. The accounts have now lost $1 billion and counting, he added.
Beyond college savings, the market drops have caused “drastic losses” for retirees, said New Mexico State Treasurer Laura Montoya on Thursday. Some 62% of Americans partake in the stock market and a “significant chunk of those Americans saw their hard-earned cash” evaporate, said Montoya, who is known as New Mexico’s banker.
Washington State Treasurer Michael Pellicciotti also didn’t hold back. He said the president seems to be forgetting decisions he made yesterday and still might change his mind tomorrow. The impact upends the lives of average Americans who are looking at their account balances and wondering if they’ll need to work years longer than expected.
“Once again, it is the state treasurers who will have to clean up the economic mess,” he said. “We’re the ones on the front lines who will have to respond to the challenges the president is creating.”
Erick Russell, Connecticut State Treasurer, said the impact has been no less than devastating and chaotic. As the economic slowdown progresses, he said, the U.S. is inching closer to a potential recession each day. At this point, the one thing people can count on is they can’t trust what the president says, noted Russell.
He added that the ultra wealthy are well positioned to ride out the market uncertainty, but working people are focused on groceries, day-to-day expenses, and mortgage and rent payments.
“What we cannot have is the President of the United States running our economy into the ground,” said Pellicciotti.
Pellicciotti noted that there was a dramatic difference between being unable to afford a new boat or yacht versus working years longer than expected or not being able to afford groceries.
“This is not normal,” said Montoya. “To have so much chaos and uncertainty and to be playing chicken with people’s money and their lives.”
She suggested that people “blow up the phones” with calls to congressional leaders to explain the impact of Trump’s tariffs and the personal financial hit people have taken.
Frerichs said the first round of tariff rates made “little to no sense” but the bigger issue is that bringing manufacturing back into the U.S. isn’t possible after sapping investor confidence and see-sawing policies.
“If their goal was to bring in more money to this country through taxes, I’m not sure that’s going to be that powerful,” said Frerichs. “If their goal was to tank the market—well, that’s the one thing they’ve been successful with.”
