Largest Public Pension Funds Lost $169B During Tariff Rollout

From April 3 through April 8, the 25 largest state and local pension funds in the U.S. collectively lost $169 billion following the announcement and rollout of President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy, according to research from the Equable Institute.

These funds, representing roughly two-thirds of public pension assets in the U.S., have seen a total of $248.8 billion in value lost from public equities this year, not counting losses from other asset classes, such as fixed income and private assets. The S&P 500 has fallen nearly 15% year-to-date. It is unclear how much Wednesday’s rally in U.S. public equities offset the paper losses pension funds have experienced so far in 2025.

“Therefore, we know that the losses public pension funds have experienced are deeper than just the initial public equity declines,” the Equable report stated. The plans have approximately 42% of their assets in public equities, according to Equable.

Private assets are typically valued on a quarter lag; however, share prices of private equity firms like KKR & Co. Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc. have each fallen about 20% since April 2, “reflecting a widespread concern that the economic value of privately held companies have also been severely affected by the new trade restrictions,” Equable noted.

Never miss a story — sign up for CIO newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest institutional investment industry news. 

Public pension funds entered 2025 with significant unfunded liabilities. According to Equable, U.S. public plans had an average funded ratio of 80.2%—approximately $1.37 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

“The financial market shock of the last few days is exactly the kind of negative scenario that fragile pension funds should be concerned about,” the Equable report stated. “It will also be very important to monitor individual pension funds that were already distressed in some capacity coming into this year.”

The largest public pension funds in the U.S. include the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the New York City public pension funds, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the Teachers Retirement System of Georgia, the Minnesota State Board of Investment, the Florida Retirement System, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, and the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System.

“Long-term investors are careful to not react too quickly or strongly to any given day’s headlines. Even so, we are carefully assessing the impact of recent events on CalPERS’ investment returns,” said Stephen Gilmore, CIO of CalPERS, in a statement. “While we’re well-positioned to weather unsettled times, we aren’t immune to these market challenges. And it’s quite possible these challenges will affect the annual investment returns that we will report on June 30.”

Jase Auby, CIO of Texas Teachers’, emphasizes the long-term focus of a public pension fund insulates them from short-term movements.

“Pension funds are designed to be long-term investors, with asset allocations that are robust to short-term market movement,” Auby says. “As a large investor with plenty of liquid assets, Texas Teachers’ can weather this volatility and even benefit from the opportunities that arise for investors with a steady hand and a long time horizon.”