- The president warned nations are “stealing the movies” from Tinseltown in a concerted effort that threatens the US, granting him the liberty to impose tariffs. Not solely is it unclear how import duties might be levied on movies and what standards would apply, specialists say, however the true dangers could lie in expertise—not geography.
First it was metal, then it was automobiles, now it’s films. The listing of industries deemed crucial to safeguarding U.S. nationwide safety grew longer on Sunday after President Trump declared plans to impose 100% tariffs on films produced overseas.
The president argued Tinseltown has been “devastated” by nations that provided studios incentives to shoot on location.
“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” he stated, implying international movies might impose alien views antithetical to American values. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda.”
Trump’s first 100 days have been characterised by an “financial conflict in opposition to the entire world“, one minute imposing tariffs, solely to roll them again the following.
A film tariff would nonetheless be the primary time that Trump levied import duties on one thing past tangible items produced by producers. Whereas films require bodily reels to be operated at a cinema, movies themselves are sometimes labeled as audiovisual companies below worldwide commerce. Films streamed at dwelling in the meantime are seen as digital items nonetheless topic to a moratorium on tariffs.
Uncertainty on how tariffs would possibly apply to movies
“We’re on it,” Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick posted to X.
Figuring out whether or not is home or international is pretty easy. Beneath the guidelines of origin, governments study how a lot content material in a selected product comes from inputs shipped in from overseas and if sure thresholds are met, they’re exempt.
Electrical autos assembled within the U.S., for instance, may be deemed imports in the event that they depend on battery cells—the one greatest price within the invoice of products—which might be imported from China.
How this identical strategy would possibly apply to movies to find out their financial nationality is unclear. There may be commerce protectionism, nevertheless it takes the type of non-tariff limitations equivalent to quotas and mandates designed to serve home audiences or promote particular tradition.
“It’s not clear what will be impacted. Is it just movies or also streaming series?” Henning Molfenter, a former head of movie and TV manufacturing at Germany’s Studio Babelsberg stated in feedback to The Hollywood Reporter. “Is it visual effects, co-productions, international film financing? There’s a huge degree of uncertainty.”
Trump warns ‘different nations have been stealing the flicks’
Beneath the Structure, solely the legislative arm of the federal government has the authority to ratify commerce offers and when obligatory prohibit the movement of products and companies through tariffs. There may be nonetheless an exemption allowing the chief department to intervene in commerce when there’s a risk to the security of the nation.
Trump has commonly relied on this exception. In his first 100 days, he has imposed sectoral tariffs along with his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on nations with out looking for the consent of Congress.
"Other nations have been stealing the moviemaking capabilities from the United States," says @POTUS.
"Hollywood is being destroyed … If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States, then we should have a tariff on movies that come in." pic.twitter.com/g3lxoGppmJ
— Fast Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) Might 5, 2025“Other nations have been stealing the movies, the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump instructed reporters later. “I said to a couple of people ‘what do you think?’. I’ve done some very strong research over the last week and we’re making very few movies now, Hollywood is being destroyed.”
Defending Hollywood from international competitors could shock many observers, since it’s thought-about a Democratic stronghold usually seen with suspicion by Trump’s MAGA base. But it surely has certainly taken a current hit.
Within the midst of a worldwide decline in manufacturing and intensifying competitors for movie tasks, on-location manufacturing in Better Los Angeles—dwelling to most main studios—declined by 22% through the first quarter, in line with information revealed final month by FilmLA.
The World Commerce Group declined to supply an announcement, telling Fortune it doesn’t remark as a basic rule on the insurance policies of its particular person members.
Synthetic intelligence and TikTok are the true threats to Hollywood
Whether or not tariffs are an efficient coverage to reply Hollywood’s deeper issues and usher within the return of its golden period stays speculative.
Stephen Wolfe Pereira, a former media government with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, referred to as the concept U.S. nationwide safety is threatened by the movie business’s decline “bogus”.
Furthermore, the true threats to the business might not be present in different nations, however elsewhere.
“AI is quietly replacing over 20% of production roles today regardless of where cameras role, so the real disruption is not geographic, it’s actually technological,” Wolfe Pereira instructed Bloomberg Tv in an interview.
That isn’t the one structural headwind Hollywood faces, both. Consumer-generated content material on social media websites like TikTok commonly outcompetes studios for shopper consideration.
“The whole rise of digital technologies [and] alternative means of entertainment,” Wolfe Pereira stated, “those are much bigger threats to the traditional Hollywood ecosystem.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
