Trump eyes tariffs on foreign film productions
Studios fear fallout from proposed 100% import penalty
By: Zac Anderson
USA today
..... The film industry has joined the economic uncertainly after President Donald Trump announced he will slap a 100% tariff on movies produced in foreign countries, saying he is concerned that incentives luring filmmakers overseas will send the American movie industry to "a very fast death."
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"WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!" he wrote in a social media post May4, [2025] adding that the was instruct members of his administration 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."
..... Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on the social media website X: "We're on it."
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Neither Lutnick nor Trump provided any details on how the tariffs would be implement4ed.
..... On May 5, [2025] U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defensed Trump's tariff plans and emphasized the Republican tax bill working its way through Congress, saying it would make many parts of his first-term tax cuts permanent.
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"The primary components of the trump economic agenda - trade, tax cuts, and deregulation - are not standalone policies. They are interlocking parts of an engine designed to drive long-term investment in the American economy," Bessent said in prepared remarks to the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.
..... It was unclear if the tariffs, would apply to movies on streaming services as will as those shown in theaters, or if they would be calculated based on production costs, or box office revenue. The Motion Picture Association, which represents the major studios, had no immediate comment.
..... The move is the latest in a slew of tariffs Trump has levied on various countries and industries, including foreign steel, aluminum an cars. The tariffs have spooked investors, including those in the film industry, and unsettled the economy.
..... Trump recently ease his auto tariffs, saying he wants to give car companies "a little bit of flexibility." He also paused big reciprocal tariffs on every foreign nation except China, for 90 days. China faced a 145% tariff.
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In announcing the movie tariffs, Trump raised concerns about national security and foreign propaganda.
..... "Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. this is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore,a Nation la Security threat," he said. "It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!"
..... Movie and TV productions has been exiting Hollywood for years, heading to locations with tax incentives and lower labor costs that make filming cheaper.
..... "There is too much uncertainly, and this latest move raise more questions than answers," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. "It doesn't feel like something that will happen in the short term, as everyone will be grappling to understand the whole process Inevitably, costs will be passed on to consumers."
..... Barclays said May 5 [2025] that it is not clear who will pay the tariff or how it will be calculated, given that U.S. studios are among the biggest producers of content globally.
..... If "movie: is defined only as something in theaters, then studios will in effect be forced to follow Netflix's lead and limit theatrical releases. Barclays noted.
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"The immediate impact of this is likely to be that aggregates production volume of content will fall globally," Barclays said.
..... In the first quarter of 2025, 44.7% of the context available from Amazon Prime Video, apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix and Paramount+ was produced in the U.S., according to data from Gracenote, a content data business unit of Nielsen.
..... In 2023, about half of the spending by U.S. producers on movie and TV projects with budgets of more than 440 million went outside the U.S., according to research firm ProdPro.
..... Governments around the world have increased credits and cash rebates to attract productions and capture a greater share of the $248 billion that ampere analysis predicts will be spent globally in 2025 to produce content.
..... Trump complained
May 4 [2025] that "Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.
..... On May 5, [2025] leaders in Australia and New Zealand responded to Trump's tariff announcement by saying they would advocate for their local industries. Some Marvel superhero movies have been filmed in Australia, while New Zealand was the backdrop for "The Load of the Rings" films.
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British media union Bectu urged the government to protect the country's "vital" film sector, warning tens of thousands of freelance jobs were on the line.
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Tariffs would put further pressure on an industry already reeling form cord-cutting and rising labor costs after the 2023 Hollywood strikes secured higher pay and broader benefits for writers and actors, and it is unclear whether it would accomplish the objective of boosting film production in the U.S.
..... "Raising the cost to produce movies could lead studios to make less content. There's also a risk of retaliatory tariffs against American content overseas," said Rosenblatt Securities annalist Barton Crockett.
..... Hollywood is already in the cross-hairs of China, which vowed in April [2025] to curb U.S. movie imports in retaliation for the latest broader tariffs. But analysts said the hit may be limited as box office returns from China have been declining.
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Still, former senior Commerce official William Reisch, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said retaliation against Trump's film tariffs would be devastating.
..... But Bessent, the Treasury chief, said U.S. financial markets were well equipped to weather any short-term turbulence, citing their rebound from challenges over the past century.
..... Contributing: Reuters