President Donald Trump has set his sights on the entertainment industry, vowing to place a "100% tariff" on any movies coming into the U.S.
Sharing the news on his Truth Social platform, the Commander in Chief said, "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. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!"
"Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands," Trump continued. "WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!"
Shortly after Trump was elected, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight were named as "Special Ambassadors" to Hollywood. It's unclear how such tariffs would be enforced or who would foot the bill.
The general consensus among Hollywood insiders is that this would devastate the film industry, drastically reducing the number of films and TV shows produced worldwide.
While many studios take advantage of foreign tax breaks to shoot Hollywood productions, they typically take American workers with them, so this will reduce jobs, not increase them. As with most tariffs, the American people would also suffer most, with the cost of theater tickets potentially doubling, along with streaming service costs and the like.
In a C-SPAN interview, Trump elaborated on his plans for Hollywood:
"What they’ve done is other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities from the United States. I’ve done some very strong research over the past week, and we’re making very few movies now. Hollywood is being destroyed. Now, you have a...grossly incompetent governor that allowed that to happen, so I’m not just blaming other nations, but other nations have stolen our movie industry. If they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States, then we should have a tariff on movies that come in. And not only that, governments are actually giving big money. They’re supporting them financially. That’s sort of a threat to our country in a sense."
Avatar: Fire and Ash was shot in New Zealand, while Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day will both film in the UK this year. Star Wars: Starfighter is currently scheduled for a UK shoot, and DC Studios plans to shoot the majority of its blockbusters in the country, including the in-production Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Last month, Trump placed a 10% tariff on all goods that come into the U.S. from outside countries. As a result, America faced an imminent recession, leading to the President placing a 90-day pause on almost all of them, except for tariffs levied against China. As a result, the stock market rebounded.
As one producer told Deadline, "It’s insane. So U.S. companies can only make U.S. films? James Cameron can’t make Avatar overseas? Who pays the tariffs? Leading independent distributors would all be out of business if it’s them."