Earlier this year, United States President Donald Trump threatened to hit films produced outside the United States with 100% tariffs. He's yet to explain how those would work (especially as, depending on where they're set, some movies need to shoot overseas), but if it does go ahead, it will be a crushing blow to Hollywood studios.
Marvel Studios, for example, shot The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the UK, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday, and Avengers: Secret Wars based in the country, too. On the DC Studios side, Supergirl and Clayface have been filmed across the pond, and Lucasfilm currently has cameras rolling on Star Wars: Starfighter in the UK.
For the Commander in Chief, that's a lot of jobs that could and should go to American workers.
Taking to his social media platform Truth Social today, Trump wrote, "Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing 'candy from a baby.' California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit."
He added, "Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Trump previously said that foreign productions are a "national security threat" to the American movie industry, adding that they not only draw filmmakers to other markets but also bring "messaging and propaganda" into the United States.
Shortly after Trump was elected, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight were named as "Special Ambassadors" to Hollywood. We've seen very little from them since, and it's not clear what advice, if any, they've provided the President with. It's also unclear how such tariffs would be enforced or who would foot the bill.
The consensus among Hollywood insiders in May was 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 whether this will increase jobs is debatable. As with most tariffs, the American people would potentially suffer most, and it's been said that the cost of theater tickets could potentially double, with streaming service subscription prices also rising.
As one producer previously said, "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."
As always, stay tuned for updates as we have them.