US President Donald Trump has ordered new tariffs on all movies made exterior america, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a pattern of US filmmakers and studios working overseas.
The announcement comes because the White Home is coming underneath mounting criticism over its aggressive commerce insurance policies which have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on nations across the globe.
“I’m authorizing the Division of Commerce, and america Commerce Consultant, to right away start the method of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Films coming into our Nation which might be produced in Overseas Lands,” he wrote on his Reality Social platform.
“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reposted Trump’s missive, saying “We’re on it.”
No particulars had been offered on how the tariff could be carried out.
Film trade is dying
Trump’s publish comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the US president’s combative commerce insurance policies with 145 % tariffs on many items, stated final month it might cut back the variety of US movies it imported.
“The Film Trade in America is DYING a really quick dying. Different Nations are providing all kinds of incentives to attract our filmmakers and studios away from america,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
“Hollywood, and plenty of different areas inside the united statesA., are being devastated,” he added, claiming that manufacturing being drawn to different nations was a “Nationwide Safety menace.”
The implications for the film trade – or how precisely the tariffs could be enacted – weren’t instantly clear.
There was additionally no point out in Trump’s publish of whether or not tv sequence, an more and more standard and worthwhile sector of manufacturing for the display, could be affected.
US not in prime 5
Hollywood is a significant sector of america’ financial system, producing greater than 2.3 million jobs and $279 billion in gross sales in 2022, in accordance with the newest information from the Movement Image Affiliation.
However within the wake of the Hollywood strikes and the Covid pandemic impacts – which modified how People consumed motion pictures, opting to look at at house as an alternative of in theaters – the trade continues to be struggling to regain its momentum, trade insiders say.
In line with a January report by manufacturing monitoring service ProdPro, america is a prime filming hub with $14.5 billion in manufacturing spend – although that quantity is a 26 % drop in comparison with two years earlier.
Nonetheless a survey of studio executives revealed that their prime 5 most popular manufacturing places for 2025 and 2026 had been all exterior of america, as a consequence of aggressive tax incentive schemes on supply.
First was Toronto, adopted by Britain, Vancouver, Central Europe after which Australia. California got here in at sixth place.
Forward of his inauguration in January, Donald Trump appointed longstanding supporters Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as particular envoys to Hollywood.
He stated they might make the leisure trade “STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE” in a publish on Reality Social.
Trump and the Republicans have historically acquired scant assist from the leisure trade, and a galaxy of stars from Taylor Swift to George Clooney backed Democrat Kamala Harris within the 2024 presidential election.
What subsequent for Donald Trump when it comes to tariffs?
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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
