U.S. President Donald Trump has repeated his threat to impose a 100% tariff on all films not made in the United States.
Back in May, Trump said he would talk to Hollywood executives about his plan and to begin the process of imposing the levy as America’s film industry was dying “a very fast death”.
Today, he said that California had been heavily affected by runaway productions and the levy would “solve this long-time, never-ending problem”.
On his Truth Social platform, he says:”Our movie-making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit”
The 100% tariff would be imposed “on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States”, but he did not say when the tariff would come into force.
It is unclear if the tariffs would apply to films on streaming services, such as Netflix, as well as those shown at cinemas, or how any of this will be calculated.
American production houses heavily rely on Canadian facilities, crews and talent to deliver Hollywood movies with a Canadian Chamber of Commerce rep saying such a tariff would “weaken both economies” and jeopardise “thousands of middle-class jobs”.
Source: BBC
