President Donald Trump has once again seen one of his signature economic promises upended by reality.
The promise? It involved Trump's sweeping tax law overhaul, which included a stipulation that American corporations that attempted to repatriate foreign profits would no longer be taxed when they do so, save for a one-time tax on old earnings.
"We expect to have in excess of $4 trillion brought back very shortly. Over $4 [trillion], but close to $5 trillion, will be brought back into our country," President Trump told business leaders in August at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., according to The Wall Street Journal. ". This is money that would never, ever be seen again by the workers and the people of our country."
Yet the Journal reported some bad news for Trump, and the American people in general, when it comes to the repatriation of this foreign capital:The Wall Street Journal reviewed securities filings from 108 publicly traded companies accounting for the vast majority of an estimated $2.7 trillion in profits parked abroad, and asked each company what it was doing with the funds. In their filings and responses, they said they have repatriated about $143 billion so far this year.
According to the Journal's reporting, independent analysts are not anticipating repatriation even close to Trump's heavily touted $4 trillion mark. The first quarter of 2018 only saw $305.6 billion in repatriated capital. Of that, more than $35 billion reflects funds routinely repatriated on a quarterly basis, which would have likely come back to the U.S. even without the tax reform bill.
