SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: Scots retirement savings on frontline of US president’s ‘daft’ trade war as experts confirm multi-billion pound hit.
Donald Trump’s tariff trade war has wiped up to £12billion off Scottish pension funds, the Sunday Mail can reveal. The US president sent global markets into freefall last week slashing trillions from stockmarkets even after a partial U-turn.
And our pensions were on the front line of the stock market carnage – with experts confirming an initial hit of billions of pounds to the value of the nation’s retirement savings. Scottish Lib Dem chief Alex Cole-Hamilton blasted: “ Donald Trump is an economic wrecking ball.
“His daft tariff plan will leave both Americans and Brits worse off. It’s not hard to see how he managed to bankrupt casinos. Whether you’re mid-career or approaching retirement this is terrible news.
“ Liberal Democrats have called on the Prime Minister to work with allies like the EU and Canada to coordinate efforts to protect our economies and push back against Trump’s bullying.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton(Image: PA)
The amount the average Scot has in their pension pot varies widely depending on their age, with a median figure of £9500 for those aged 25-34, rising to £189,700 for those in the 55-64 bracket.
Analysis of ONS data suggests a typical mid-career worker in the UK saw a fall of £5968 in their pension pot in the chaos after Trump’s announcement of a sweeping tariffs regime against 90 countries, with an estimated hit of 7 per cent to a typical pension investment fund.
With around 1.94million workers in Scotland thought to be part of a workplace pension scheme, it could mean as much as £11.6billion has been wiped from the nation’s retirement savings.
Tom Selby, director of public policy at investment firm AJ Bell, said that although every workplace pension saver is different, the “initial hit” to Scots pension pots from Trump’s tariffs “would certainly be in the billions”.
Selby added: “It’s very hard to avoid short-term downward movements when the largest economy in the world, which is connected with all other economies, does something like this.”
Wall Street stocks sank in early trading on April 3,2025, joining a global equity selloff after President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement exacerbated worries about a trade war and global economic downturn(Image: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
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For long-term savers, the advice is to hold fast – however, the market chaos could be a worry for Scots with imminent retirement plans.
Selby said: “It’s worth remembering that most people stay invested when they access their pension, so retirement is less of a fixed point in time than it used to be.
“But it’s definitely worrying if you’ve kept a high equity exposure and you’re planning to buy an annuity shortly, which is why people planning to do that shouldn’t be fully invested in equities.
“Some may find themselves in this position, in which case falls on the value of their fund leaves them in a potentially difficult position.”
His advice: “Either hang tight and hope markets recover or potentially delay retirement.”
Markets have rallied slightly since Trump’s reversal on tariffs on Wednesday, where he reduced import rates to 10 per cent for every country except China after major US bond market jitters.
However, pension values along with the wider stock market have still not fully recovered amid fears of further financial chaos, particularly as a US-China trade war ramps up.