Top executives from Australia’s A$4.1 trillion ($2.6 trillion) superannuation funds industry are heading to Washington this month to meet with senior officials from President Donald Trump’s administration to discuss investment opportunities in the U.S.
The funds will attend a summit in Washington, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed on Feb. 13, without naming the funds. Senior members of the Trump administration are expected to attend together with U.S. governors of states that offer investment opportunities for Australia’s supers industry.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this week said a delegation from the industry would head to the U.S. later this month, in comments to reporters after he spoke with Trump by telephone on Feb. 11.
“I spoke about Australia as a source of investment capital,” Albanese said as he recounted his call with the president, adding the pensions event would take place Feb. 24-25. The supers industry “will rise as well up to around about $7 trillion over the coming decade and a half," he said.
Australia’s superannuation industry has become a global investment powerhouse, with about a half of its assets now located offshore. Around a quarter of the industry’s overall assets are invested in private markets, which has grown in size as record inflows force the funds to ramp up investments beyond their own backyard.
Albanese said that “major Australian superannuation funds” would be represented in Washington “and they’re looking at a significant investment into the U.S.”
A spokesperson for DFAT told Bloomberg in a statement that Australia would host an “Australian Superannuation Investment Summit in late February in Washington and New York to showcase the depth of Australia’s pool of investment capital and to strengthen two-way connections with the U.S. investment community.”
The visit comes as the government is working to persuade the Trump administration that its close economic links with the U.S., together with a significant American trade surplus with Australia, warrant an exemption from planned tariffs targeting steel and aluminum.
Trump said he was willing to consider an exception for Australia following his call with Albanese.
