As America and the rest of the world alike still continue to navigate the uncertainty around Donald Trump’s sweeping obsessions with tariffs, the U.S. President has now laid his eyes on another target–another that could provide a killing blow to the “dying” industry he is claiming to be attempting to save via the almighty tariff.
Late last night on his media platform of choice, Truth Social, President Trump claimed that he had directed the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade representative to institute a “100%” tariff on “any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump in the post. “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda,” before concluding, in all-caps, “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”.
As with many of Trump’s tariff-based economic initiatives in his second term thus far, it was immediately unsure as to how legally viable or practically feasible it was for the U.S. government to even attempt to institute such a tariff. While the President is correct in that many studios film projects overseas, to capitalize on lucrative tax benefits designed to bolster local film industries, this is also a commonplace practice in the across the U.S., with many states including California, Georgia, Illinois, and more, offering similar incentives to promote film production. Despite these state-by-state incentives, last year it was reported by the L.A. Times that U.S.-based production in the film industry has decreased by 40% in recent years since the combined writer/actor strikes of 2023, leading to some calls for incentives at the federal level to bring productions back to America, but it would seem Trump’s administration would prefer threats over incentives.
Trump’s statement raises many questions that remain unanswered as of writing, with no further clarity provided by the President so far. It’s unclear just how a tariff, regardless of rate, would be instituted against a film in the first place, but the timing also makes it similarly unclear if the announcement would affect films currently either in production internationally, or that have completed production and are in the stages of post-production on the path to eventual release. It’s also unclear to the extent of foreign production that would lead to the imposition of the tariff–and whether or not completely internationally-produced films would face similar targeting compared to projects partially filmed in the U.S.. There’s also confusion about particular omission’s from President Trump’s statement: he explicitly only mentions movies being subject to tariffs, without mention of the TV industry, which likewise also heavily benefits from financial incentives to be produced elsewhere.
Confusion and uncertainty has, up to this point, often been part of the point of Trump’s tariff plans, strongarm tactics that rely on vagueness and threats to attempt to negotiate more lucrative trade deals with foreign nations and to pressure compliance with the President’s demands. Just how international film industries would respond to the U.S.’ attempts to financially punish the release of foreign films in the country remains to be seen, but the movie industry has already been in the cultural crossfire of Trump tariffs already: last month, the Chinese Film Administration said it would reduce the amount of U.S. films approved for distribution in the country as part of the ongoing imposition of high tariffs on the importing of Chinese-made goods.
Time will tell just how this latest threat of tariffs will have an impact on the U.S. economy–or if they come to pass at all. But already, a familiar reaction is emerging in the markets: Variety reports that this morning the U.S. stock exchange saw shares for studios including Netflix, Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. all down in the wake of the President’s post.
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