Trump Pursues 100% Tariff On Runaway Productions

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war has set its sights on the film industry and more specifically films being made outside the United States.

Back in January, Trump named conservative stars Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as his ‘special ambassadors’ to Hollywood via a posting on the Truth Social platform.

Their goal was to ‘right the ship’ and return to a ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ when it comes to the film industry, with the big issue being runaway Hollywood productions made outside of the United States.

Recently reports indicated Voight was “devising a plan to save the entertainment industry” and had been meeting with various guild officials and studio executives in recent weeks – with some expectation of a federal tax incentive as opposed to imposing restrictions on filming overseas.

This afternoon, Trump indicated on the Truth Social platform that he’s ordering the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department to begin the process to impose a 100% tariff on imports of movies produced in ‘foreign lands’.

In his posting, he calls ‘runaway production’ a “national security threat”. Here’s the post in full:

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.

This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!

Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

The U.S. film and television industries has been hit hard on multiple fronts from the pandemic to the strikes and, more recently the wildfires in Los Angeles. That said, a sudden tariff increase like this could have a major impact on films currently in or heading into production overseas – such as Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Doomsday” which just started filming this past week.

Source: Deadline

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