President Donald Trump has updated his threat to implement tariffs on films produced outside the United States.
“Our filmmaking business was stolen from the United States by other countries, as if they were stealing “candies from babies.” He wrote on Monday on social media platform Truth Social, he wrote. “Therefore, to solve this long time, and to solve an endless problem, I will impose a 100% tariff on all films made outside of the United States. Thank you for paying attention to this issue.”
It is unclear what rekindled the declaration, but Trump made a similar declaration in May. He added that foreign production is a “national security threat” to the American film industry, bringing not only filmmakers to other markets, but also “message and propaganda” to the United States. At the time there was uncertainty about whether the president had the authority to enact such tariffs and how it would be implemented.
Film and television production in recent years has been filming from Hollywood in locations like the UK, Australia and New Zealand that offer lucrative tax incentives, making filming cheaper. However, some films are filmed internationally as the story takes place in other parts of the world. Directors like Dennis Villeneuve (“Dune”) and Christopher Nolan (the upcoming “Odyssey”) prefer to film in locations rather than soundstage.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who Trump mentioned in his Truth Social Post, recently pushed for more state tax incentive programs, including film credits, to boost production in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Newsom has been mercilessly trolling Trump on social media about his policies and declarations for months, with the governor regularly posting that mimics the unfiltered (and often all caps) tone nature of the president.
“It follows his example,” Newsom said at a summer press conference.
