Trump hails Apple bid to repatriate overseas cash

US President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed Apple's announcement to repatriate overseas cash as part of a plan to inject $350 billion into the US economy over the next five years.

"I promised that my policies would allow companies like Apple to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States. Great to see Apple follow through as a result of TAX CUTS. Huge win for American workers and the USA!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Apple had announced that it will repatriate a good part of its overseas cash, if not all, as part of a series of measures to inject $350 billion in the American economy over the next five years, Efe news agency reported.

In the announcement, which took the markets by surprise, the company revealed its investment plans and which also includes its promise to create 20,000 new jobs in the US in the next five years.

Of special note in the statement is the information that Apple will pay approximately $38 billion in tax payments upon repatriation of overseas profits from throughout the world.

"A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made," the tech giant said in the statement.

That repatriation comes in response to changes to the tax law, approved at the end of 2017, which aim, among other measures, to persuade US companies to repatriate their capital by reducing tax burdens.

Under the new law, companies that make a one-time repatriation of cash will be taxed at a rate of 15.5 percent on cash holdings and 8 percent on non-liquid assets.

However, Apple's statement does not reveal how much of its overseas cash the company is thinking of repatriating although media reports suggest it could be around $250 billion.

--IANS

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