Bloomberg – President Donald Trump said he would meet with Hollywood executives after surprising the US film industry with his plan to impose a 100% tariff on films made abroad.
“So we will meet with the industry”Trump said Monday afternoon. “I want to make sure they are happy with it, because what matters to us are jobs.”
Film and entertainment figures tried Monday to interpret Trump’s directive, published in his social media account on Sunday night, in which he claimed that the American film industry is “dying.” He also described foreign films as a threat to national security that diffuses foreign propaganda.
View more: Trump plans 100% tariff to foreign films and expansion of restrictive commercial policy
“We want movies made in the United States, again!”Trump said.
The actions of Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Global Paramount (for), Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (WBD) and other media and entertainment companies fell. Wall Street and Hollywood analysts tried to discern what aspect of film production could be subject to such tariffs and why they should be the object of them as other industries.
The US film and television industry generated US $ 22.6 billion in exports and obtained a Commercial surplus of US $ 15.3 billionaccording to a report by the Motion Picture Association of 2023. The industry generated a positive commercial balance with all the main markets of the world, according to the report.
Trump ordered the Department of Commerce on Sunday and the US trade representative to begin “immediately” to work in the tariff process.
“Although no definitive decision on tariffs on foreign films has been made, the administration He is studying all the options to meet President Trump’s directive To safeguard the national and economic security of our country, while making Hollywood big, ”White House spokesman Kush Desai said on Monday.
No details were provided about how taxes would be elaborated and applied, nor under what legal authority they would apply, if Trump decides to move forward.
For tariffs, the administration could be based on article 232 of the Commercial Expansion Law, which grants the Department of Commerce 270 days to investigate the alleged dangers of certain imports. At the end of the investigation, the president could impose tariffs. Trump has used this authority to impose tariffs on cars and metals.
Apply tariffs to moviesif Trump decided to do it, it would be complicated.
Many films of Hollywood studies imply a global production, with locations in foreign countries and postproduction work that can be carried out anywhere in the world. Nor is it known if the tax would apply to films already filmed, but not yet released, or only to the new productions.
Stephen Follows, writer, producer and consultant in content creation, said that Trump “has lit the fuse of a topic that the industry has rarely addressed in front. What really does this measure mean that this measure is taken in the United States?”
Productions abroad
Many large -budget Hollywood films have been partially or mostly shot out of the US, attracted by tax incentives and the lower cost of laborfrom the actors and the team to the postproduction work. One of the highest blockbusters in the USA, Avatar2009, was rolled mainly in New Zealand, while Avengers: Endgame He made extensive use of international locations, including Scotland and the United Kingdom.
Cinematographic production has become one of the most globalized industries in the world, according to Follows in a newsletter. All aspects of this art usually cross borders. “And although Trump’s proposal establishes a clear line between the foreigner and the national, the modern reality of cinema is diffuse.”
See more: China will exhibit fewer Hollywood movies against Trump tariffs
Trump would have referred to the incentives offered by other countries, which are causing “very fast death” of the American film industry, according to its publication on social networks.
“Our film industry has been decimated by other countries,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “I want to help the industry. But other countries are financing them.”
He also blamed the governor of California, the Democrat Gavin Newsom, whom he described as “tremendously incompetent man” that “has simply allowed them to take it away, they already know, Hollywood.”
Hollywood in trouble
The work in cinema and television in the US has contracted in recent years for several reasons. Media companies have cut expense to grow in streaming services. These services are expanding worldwide and seek to produce more films for foreign markets.
According to Produro firm, production spending in the US fell 28% between 2021 and 2024. Meanwhile, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have seen their industry grow thanks to tax incentives and lower costs.
The announcement was given after a Trump meeting in Mar-A-Lago with actor Jon Voight and his representative Steven Paul, who proposed to expand or extend fiscal incentives for the production of film and television in the US. Although they did not mention tariffs, Trump introduced the idea during the meeting, according to Fuentes.
In January, Trump had already appointed Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors of his administration in Hollywood, with the aim of promoting employment in the national industry.
The US entertainment industry generates billions of dollars a year Through the export of films, television programs and other intellectual property, according to Heeyon Kim, attached strategy professor at Cornell University.
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In 2024, international markets represented more than 70% of the total Hollywood box office revenues and tariffs could trigger reprisals from other countries that would result in “billions in income losses, which would affect not only large studies, but also thousands of jobs in production, commercialization and distribution”, according to Kim.
This would be the first time that the US government raises tariffs on servicesaccording to Madison and Wall analysts in a note, but jurisdictions such as the EU have already considered doing the same in retaliation for tariffs on the products imported to the US from the EU. China has already announced that “moderately reduce” the number of Hollywood films allowed in the country.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
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