WASHINGTON, D.C. May 8 (DPI) – American multinational corporations have always been instruments of US power in the world, but that power – measured in terms of profits – has never been as far-reaching and as deep as it is today.

Recent reports on overseas profitability of such firms as IBM, GE, Microsoft and Apple  reinforce a growing perception that American corporations are competing effectively in global markets.

For starters, total non-US profits by US corporations has nearly doubled in less than three years, from $1 trillion to 1.9 trillion, according to a new report.

Part of the success of US corporate profitability overseas stems from the expansion of global trade and overseas markets staying open and accessible, experts say, despite the sustained economic slump. Many economists in recent years have expressed surprise that nations have stayed committed to global trade despite the downturn.

In Washington, the issue of overseas corporate profits remains a sensitive one: Congress still has not addressed the highest corporate tax rate of 35%, which keeps corporations from “repatriating” profits from overseas back to the US without steep penalties. Most other industrialized countries have substantially lower corporate tax rates.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/05/08/business/08reuters-usa-taxes-oveseas.html?hp

The matter is also sensitive because job growth in the US remains stubbornly slow, and many economists believe that repatriation of US corporate profits would at least indirectly spur new job growth.

A Wall Street Journal editorial in October 2010 cited the $1 trillion estimate as it urged Congress to lower corporate tax rates:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704469004575533880328930598.html

Some policy observers suggest that Congressional inaction on high US corporate tax rates may in fact be a gesture to other countries where US corporations operate, since those countries continue to allow US corporations to freely do business.