The sweeping tax cuts adopted Wednesday by US lawmakers while reducing rates on corporations, also aim to encourage multinational businesses to repatriate huge earnings amassed abroad.

US corporations, notably in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors, have for years accumulated profits offshore to avoid the comparatively high US tax rates of 35 percent, although most companies in reality pay much less.

The stockpile of cash now stands at about $2.5 trillion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

In 2016, for example, Apple stashed more than $200 billion abroad, while Microsoft parked $100 billion, and Cisco, Oracle and General Electric all followed suit.

Some firms resorted to so-called corporate inversions, reverse mergers allowing them to be incorporated in low-tax countries, avoiding the US tax system altogether.