US President Donald Trump has ordered new tariffs on all movies made outdoors the USA, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a pattern of US filmmakers and studios working overseas.
The announcement comes because the White Home is coming below mounting criticism over its aggressive commerce insurance policies which have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on international locations across the globe.
“I’m authorizing the Division of Commerce, and the USA Commerce Consultant, to instantly start the method of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Motion pictures coming into our Nation which might be produced in International Lands,” he wrote on his Fact Social platform.
“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reposted Trump’s missive, saying “We’re on it.”
No particulars have been offered on how the tariff could be applied.
Film business is dying
Trump’s put up comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the US president’s combative commerce insurance policies with 145 p.c tariffs on many items, mentioned final month it could cut back the variety of US movies it imported.
“The Film Trade in America is DYING a really quick dying. Different International locations are providing all types of incentives to attract our filmmakers and studios away from the USA,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
“Hollywood, and plenty of different areas inside the usA., are being devastated,” he added, claiming that manufacturing being drawn to different international locations was a “Nationwide Safety menace.”
The implications for the film business – or how precisely the tariffs could be enacted – weren’t instantly clear.
There was additionally no point out in Trump’s put up of whether or not tv collection, an more and more standard and worthwhile sector of manufacturing for the display, could be affected.
US not in high 5
Hollywood is a serious sector of the USA’ economic 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 films, opting to look at at residence as an alternative of in theaters – the business remains to be struggling to regain its momentum, business insiders say.
In line with a January report by manufacturing monitoring service ProdPro, the USA is a high filming hub with $14.5 billion in manufacturing spend – although that quantity is a 26 p.c drop in comparison with two years earlier.
Nevertheless a survey of studio executives revealed that their high 5 most popular manufacturing places for 2025 and 2026 have been all outdoors of the USA, attributable to aggressive tax incentive schemes on provide.
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 mentioned they might make the leisure business “STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE” in a put up on Fact Social.
Trump and the Republicans have historically acquired scant help from the leisure business, 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 by way of tariffs?
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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
