"There needs to be a collective group of businesses in Australia that are an adjacency to politics and really do it in a concerted effort," he told The Australian Financial Review.

"The BCA does that but I think here in the US we've taken it to another level."

Following a business roundtable in Washington and discussions with US officials, Mr Jacques said "as a global company, our duty is to create maximum value for shareholders".

"We're $100 billion market cap and I've got 20 per cent of my shareholders in the US. I've got only 16 or 18 per cent in Australia, so today I've got projects both in Australia and in the US, and it will be a pity if the money goes to the wrong direction," he said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and United States of America President Donald Trump shake hands as they address the media during a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House during the Prime Minister?s official visit to Washington DC, United States of America, on Friday 23 February 2018. fedpol Photo: Alex Ellinghausen Alex Ellinghausen

"As soon as you've got a global corporation...our fiduciary duty to our shareholders is to deploy capital in the best possible way. And when you've got a project which is going, especially in mining and infrastructure, with a 40-, 50-year life of project, the 10-point gap (in the company tax rate) makes a massive, massive difference.

"We've been in Australia for 100 years, we've been in the US for 120 years. So it's not an easy situation. You know, the emotional argument doesn't always work on these ones.

"There is only one pot of money and when the money goes to one country, that's it. Once the money is earmarked, its gone."


Mr Turnbull also left Washington more resolved to argue for his government's economic centrepiece.

Rio Tinto chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques: "I've got projects both in Australia and in the US, and it will be a pity if the money goes to the wrong direction." Scott McNaughton

"We have been inspired, I have to say, by your success in securing the passage of the tax reforms through the Congress," he told Mr Trump at the White House.

"The economic stimulus that your reforms have delivered here in the United States is one of the most powerful arguments that we are deploying to persuade out legislature to support reducing business tax because as you are demonstrating, and as we all know, when you cut company tax, most of the benefit goes to workers, it produces more investment and when you get more investment, you get more jobs."

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin backed claims by the Australian government that lower company tax rates would translate into higher wages for workers.

Standing by his own claim to Mr Turnbull at a meeting on Friday that 70 per cent of the Trump administration's company tax cuts would go to workers, Mr Mnuchin said it would be reflected "mostly" in the form of wage growth.

The Trump administration slashed company tax from 35 per cent to 21 per cent in one fell swoop. The Turnbull government has cut the rate from companies with turnovers capped at $50 million but cannot secure passage for legislation for the remainder of the package, which would lower the rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent for all companies by 2026-27.

Leading businessman Michael Chaney, part of the delegation, said the claim that tax cuts would create a "virtuous circle" of more investment, more jobs, higher wages was "blindingly obvious"


He warned Labor, which is refusing to pass the legislation, that it would have to backflip if it won the next election given the momentum being generated in the US.

"The lamentable thing I think is that it's not being embraced by all sides of politics and Australians," he said.

"But with the function of a bit more time, the penny will drop and we'll have an election at the end of the year, we'll have the same or a different government. They're going to have to face reality and address the issue."

He, too, said companies should campaign individually outside the umbrella of the BCA, but there were pitfalls.

"I think all of us would be prepared, so the question is what form you do that in?" he said.

"If you run paid ads that tends to be viewed cynically."

Fortescue Metals chief executive Andrew Forrest, who gives away most of his income, also pushed hard.

"I've been coming to America and doing things and borrowing money from here for 25, 30 years. I've never seen the optimism. I've never seen big business saying 'we're going to invest in America and we're pulling capital out of countries to invest back in America'," he said.


BCA president Grant King agreed there was a growing sense of urgency.

"It's making a greater difference than they thought, in the environment and the numbers. Companies are investing, wages are growing, a number of companies are saying, "this is changing our decisions", but of course it's changing the risk for Australia because what we also heard is that the US is becoming an even more attractive place to invest because numbers are simply different."

In the case of the US, some companies have promised wage increases or bonuses to win support for the tax cuts. BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said that was harder to do in Australia given the tax cuts would be phased in over 10 years with big business not receiving their reduction until 2026-27.

"This is where the difference with the US system is. They've had a 14 point reduction instantly and we've got a 10-year plan," she said.

Acting Prime Minister Mathias Cormann said "by standing in the way of business tax cuts for all our Australian businesses Bill Shorten is recklessly and irresponsibly standing in the way of more new jobs and higher wages".