President Trump Again Threatens Tariffs on Films Made Outside the U.S.
President Donald Trump is once again threatening to implement a tariff on “any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”
Writing on his Truth Social social media app on Monday September 29, Trump said “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. 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.”
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It’s not the first time Trump has raised the idea of placing a tariff on films made outside the United States. In May he made a similar threat, claiming then that other countries “offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States” represented “a concerted effort by other Nations” to hurt America, and was “therefore, a National Security threat.”
Trump did not provide any details about how he would impose these tariffs, or on what kinds of movies. He did not make any distinction between films shot by American companies in foreign countries — as when a huge Hollywood blockbuster is made at Pinewood Studios in England — or by foreign companies making their own films but then showing those films in American theaters. Those would both technically qualify as films “made outside of the United States.”
In January, Trump also named actors Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson as his “Special Ambassadors” to Hollywood who he said would be tasked with “bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
