Does the United States Arbitrage the World?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
This chapter explores the intersection of jurisdictional arbitrage and geopolitics by examining how US-based CCMCEs structure their domestic and international operations. Drawing on CORPLINK data from the world’s top 100 non-financial firms, it identifies a distinct bifurcation in US corporate structuring: minimal use of intermediary or splitter subsidiaries within the United States and extensive use of such structures abroad. While domestic operations leverage Delaware’s legal infrastructure without intermediaries, international operations are frequently routed through offshore financial centres, enabling regulatory and tax arbitrage. The chapter argues that this structural asymmetry reflects more than corporate tax planning – it reveals how arbitrage is embedded in broader geopolitical strategies. Through permissive laws, ambiguous enforcement, and selective participation in global tax transparency initiatives, the United States may tacitly enable its firms to exploit foreign jurisdictions, thus reinforcing their global competitiveness. Though indirect, this alignment of corporate and geopolitical interests positions arbitrage as a quasi-strategic tool of US influence.
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