Could Trump’s Movie Tariffs Plan Be Illegal Under This 1988 Hollywood-Inspired Law?

If Hollywood chooses to rally and fight President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariffs on movies and TV productions produced overseas, they may have a handy legal weapon to wield – and their old friend Howard Berman to thank for it.

Berman, the Hollywood-based congressman who served 15 combined U.S. House terms from 1983 to 2013, was the architect of the Berman Amendment, a provision in federal law to protect the free flow of information across international borders at all times – even during conflict.

But the amendment, made to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and passed in 1988, has thus far only been used in the context of economic sanctions, embargoes and other forms of government censorship. Tariffs would seem to present a new wrinkle.

Trump’s proposal was sufficiently vague to raise a flurry of questions, like what the definition of a “foreign” production even is. For its part, Hollywood has been silent on the topic, with the MPA and the studios keeping their powder dry as they try to sort out exactly what Trump intends to do, and how it might affect them. So far only the Teamsters — who supported Trump’s election — said they support Trump’s efforts to stop runaway production. IATSE pushed for a federal production tax incentive Monday while posing that trade plans should “do no harm.”

Funnily enough, Berman – a Democrat who earned a reputation for creative and practical solutions during his terms – was known as a champion of protecting American film industry jobs from outsourcing. And he often sided with his colleagues on the right, including on foreign policy and trade.

Berman no longer has publicly listed contact information, and multiple attempts to reach him via the various elected officials and organizations he has been affiliated with through the years did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s inquiries.

President Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that he was looking to meet with entertainment industry leaders about bringing jobs and productions back from overseas shooting hubs.

“I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I want to help the industry,” Trump told reporters Monday, though he offered no details on who would be invited to such talks or when they would take place.

Trump cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 as giving him the authority to declare a national emergency under which he has imposed wide-ranging tariffs. But the Berman Amendment removes “informational materials” from items the president can regulate, and at least one legal expert believes the amendment will stop Trump’s efforts cold.

“The statute couldn’t be more plain,” Anupam Chander, an expert in international trade and global regulations law at Georgetown University, told MarketWatch. “Congress in 1988 specifically said the president does not have the power to regulate this.”

The 1994 Free Trade in Ideas Amendment clarified and expanded the principle behind the Berman Amendment, explicitly including all forms of media regardless of their format or medium, such as electronic and digital materials.

The amendment has played a key role in high-profile cases, like the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the U.S. Treasury Department faced legal challenges when it attempted to restrict editorial and publishing services for authors from Iran and Cuba. Courts consistently ruled that such restrictions violated the principles of the Berman Amendment. It was also invoked against initial attempts to stop the TikTok ban, though congress later created specific language to circumvent it.

But no significant precedent suggests that the Berman Amendment has been applied directly to tariffs, generally a matter of trade policy managed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce.

While the Berman Amendment might inform arguments against restrictive trade measures on informational materials, its legal application to tariffs would require novel interpretation.

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