In a fresh move, US President Donald Trump, on his Truth Social handle, announced he has instructed the Commerce Department and US Trade Representative to immediately impose a 100 per cent tariff on films that are produced outside the United States, essentially extending his tarrif war to cinema following his trade war with other nations worldwide.
He claimed that the American film industry is rapidly declining, blaming foreign incentives designed to lure US filmmakers abroad. In his post, he claimed, "The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. 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." He further noted that this was a deliberate move by other countries and was a "national security threat".
"It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!" he added, concluding with a statement, "We want moves made in America, again!."
It has not been clear on how the tax impositions would work, if it would also be applicable production companies in the US and other countries who are bankrolling films abroad, or if there would also be restrictions on filming abroad. However, responding to Trump's post, Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick posted on his X handle that they are currently in the process of implementing it.
Details of whether these tariffs would also apply for streaming services and how it would be calculated. It is to be noted that filming for several TV shows usually happen in Toronto in Canada, Dublin and other parts of the world as foreign studios have given major tax breaks to studios to shoot outside of Hollywood.
Several big budget movies like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Messiah are already production in countries outside of the US, so it remains unclear if these taxes woould apply to them as well.
According to FilmLA, filming for movies and TV series in LA have come down by nearly 40 per cent in the last ten years. US box office has also been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic. The governments of Australia and New Zealand have already spoken out in support of their countries' film industries.
With other countries also expected to respond with tariffs that could impact American box office numbers, it is yet to be seen how Trump's rule is set to pan out globally.
