U.S. President Donald Trump declares 100% tax on international films in U.S. cinemas, citing film industry's alleged decline.
Fresh Take:
In a fiery tweet, ex-prez Donald Trump has announced plans to hike tariffs on films produced outside the good ol' USA, claiming it's a blow against nations stealing our movie-making prowess. This move marks a new frontier in Trump's trade wars, stretching into the entertainment sector for the first time.
Griping that the US movie industry is on a fast track to the grave, Trump's tariff 'gambit' would hit imported films with a hefty 100% surcharge. He's given the commerce department and USTR a green light to make it happen, decking it as a 'national security threat'.
This news comes as another shocker from Trump-land, where he's been sending out policy bombshells via social media at an alarming rate, like his fiery plan to revamp notorious prison Alcatraz.
But, here's the real question—how might this new tariff affect global productions? Let's look at upcoming films like Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. Filmed not just in the States, but across the globe, it's a puzzle to figure out who'd foot the extra bill.
Interestingly, American films raked in a whopping $22.6bn (£17bn) in exports and had a $15.3bn (£11.5bn) surplus in 2023. However, this hefty tariff announcement is part of a wider import crackdown by Trump, announced last month.
At a recent presser, Trump outlined a 10% base tariff on foreign goods, with varying levies tacked on, and for a while, even escalated the tariff on Chinese goods up to 145%.
Trump's been vocal about film production moving overseas in the past. In a clever move, he appointed a few Hollywood heavyweights, like Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone, as "special ambassadors" just before taking office, promising to bring Tinseltown back "bigger, better, and stronger than ever."
However, US film production has been struggling in the wake of the COVID pandemic, grappling with strikes among Hollywood guilds and devastating wildfires in LA in recent years. Overall film and TV production dropped by 26% last year, according to ProdPro data.
Yet, enforcing such a tariff could cause significant market disruption, increased costs for consumers, and potentially fuel more trade conflicts. After all, the entertainment industry is an intricate web of global connections. It's a gamble, but will it pay off for Trump? Only time will tell.
Wildfires in Los Angeles, which have been affecting film and TV production in recent years, might potentially intensify due to increased costs incurred via Trump's proposed 100% tariff on imported films. This policy-and-legislation move, reminiscent of Trump's contentious trade wars, might inadvertently escalate international conflicts within the general news realm of politics and entertainment.
