Trump proposes 100% tariff on foreign-made movies as he declares Hollywood critical to U.S. national security
- The president warned the countries “flying the films” in Tinseltown In a concerted effort that threatens the United States, granting him the freedom to impose prices. Not only is it not clear how import duties could be taken from the films and what criteria would apply, according to experts, but real risks can reside in technology – not geography.
It was first steel, then it was cars, now they are films. The list of industries deemed essential to safeguarding the United States national security occurred on Sunday after President Trump declared his intention to impose 100% prices on films produced abroad.
The president argued that Tinseltown was “devastated” by the countries which offered studios incentives to turn on site.
“This is a concerted effort of other nations and, therefore, a threat of national security,” he said, involving foreign films could impose antithetical foreign views on American values. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda.”
The first 100 days of Trump were characterized by an “economic war against the whole world”, a minute imposing prices, to make them go the next.
A film rate would however be the first time that Trump prefers import rights on something beyond tangible products produced by manufacturers. While films require physical coils to work in a cinema, the films themselves are often classified as audiovisual services in international trade. Films broadcast at home are considered to be digital goods Always subject to a moratorium on prices.
Uncertainty about how prices could apply to films
“We are there,” Trump Howard Lunick's trade secretary poster to X.
To determine if a property is national or foreign is quite simple. BelowRules of originGovernments examine how many content in a specific product comes from the inputs sent from abroad and if certain thresholds are affected, they are exempt.
Electric vehicles assembled in the United States, for example, could be considered imports if they are counting on battery cells – the largest cost of the goods bill – which are imported from China.
The way this same approach could apply to films to determine their economic nationality is not clear. There is commercial protectionism, but it takes the form of non -tariff barriers such as quotas and mandates designed to serve the domestic public or promote a specific culture.
“We don't know what will be affected. Is it just movies or streaming series? ” Henning Mulfenter, former chief of film production and television at the German studio in Babelsberg said In the comments of The Hollywood Reporter. “Is it visual effects, co-productions, international funding for films?” There is a huge degree of uncertainty. ”
Trump warns that the other nations stole the films'
Under the Constitution, only the government's legislative branch has the power to ratify commercial transactions and, if necessary, limit the flow of goods and services via prices. However, there is an exemption allowing the executive power to intervene in trade when there is a threat to the security of the country.
Trump regularly relied on this exception. During his first 100 days, he imposed sectoral prices in addition to his so-called “reciprocal rates” on countries without asking the consent of the congress.
"Other nations have stolen the capacity to create movements in the United States," said @Potus.
– Quick response 47 (@ rapidressese47) May 5, 2025
"Hollywood is destroyed … if they are not willing to make a film in the United States, then we should have a price on the films that enter." pic.twitter.com/g3lxogpmj
“Other nations have stolen the films, the United States filmmakers,” Trump told journalists later. “I said to a few people” What do you think? “. I did very strong research during last week and we are doing very few movies now, Hollywood is destroyed.”
Protecting Hollywood from foreign competition can surprise many observers, as it is considered a democratic bastion often considered with suspicion by Maga de Trump. But that has indeed taken a recent blow.
In the midst of a global drop in production and intensification of competition for film projects, production in the place in the Grand Los Angeles – Home for most major studios – recorded by 22% in the first quarter, according toData published last monthby filmla.
The World Trade Organization refused to provide a declaration,FortuneHe does not generally comment on the policies of his individual members.
Artificial intelligence and Tiktok are the real threats to Hollywood
The question of whether prices are an effective policy to respond to the deeper Hollywood problems and inaugurate the return of its golden era remains speculative.
Stephen Wolfe Pereira, a former media director with the Spanish diffuser Invision, called for the idea that US national security is threatened by the decline of the “false” film industry.
In addition, real threats to industry may not be found in other countries, but elsewhere.
“The AI discreetly replaces more than 20% of production roles today, no matter where the cameras are the role of cameras, so real disturbance is not geographic, it is actually technological”, Wolfe Pereira said Bloomberg Television in an interview.
Nor is it the only structural headwind of Hollywood faces. The content generated by users on social media sites like Tiktok regularly exceeds studios for the attention of consumers.
“The whole rise in digital technologies [and] Alternative means of entertainment, “said Wolfe Pereira,” these are much more important threats to the traditional Hollywood ecosystem “.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
