The Treasury Department is moving toward automatically opening a Trump Account — a federally created, tax-advantaged investment account — for every American child under 18, a shift that officials say could eventually enroll as many as 73 million minors without their parents taking any action at all.
Trump Accounts were authorized under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and allow up to $5,000 in annual contributions that grow tax-deferred until the holder turns 18, at which point the account converts into a traditional IRA-style vehicle. Children born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, also receive a one-time $1,000 seed deposit from the federal government. Since the program's July 4 launch, parents and guardians have had to open accounts manually, whether through the Trump Accounts app, a dedicated website or paperwork filed with their taxes — a process that produced 6.5 million enrollments within the program's first five days.
A bigger enrollment number, bigger questions
Administration officials now want to skip that opt-in step entirely. Senator Ted Cruz has said the administration has made what he called an "unequivocal commitment" to auto-enroll every eligible child, while Brad Gerstner, an entrepreneur who helped design the program, has said the president's ambition runs toward 70 million or more children nationwide. A Treasury spokesperson said the department is "committed to maximizing the impact of Trump Accounts, driving sign-ups for all eligible children, and achieving our goal of having every American child own a Trump Account."
Getting there is not simple. Automatic enrollment on that scale would likely require new Treasury and IRS regulations, expanded data-sharing arrangements across federal agencies to identify and verify eligible children, additional congressional appropriations, and possibly changes to the underlying statute — none of which has yet been finalized or scheduled for a vote.
The proposal has also sharpened a debate that has followed the program since its creation. Supporters argue compounding tax-deferred growth over 18 years could meaningfully build wealth for children who would otherwise have no savings started on their behalf. Critics, including researchers at the Cato Institute, counter that the accounts are more restrictive and less tax-efficient than existing options such as 529 education savings plans, and have raised separate concerns about the cost of universal enrollment, data-privacy protections for minors swept into the program automatically, and whether the benefits will flow disproportionately to higher-income families already positioned to take advantage of them. No timeline has been set for when, or whether, automatic enrollment will take effect.
