Stocks of entertainment companies like Disney, Netflix, Warners and Paramount all slid on Monday morning following President Trump’s still-to-be outlined proposal to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films.
The U.S. president, whose global trade war in early April shook worldwide markets last month, wrote on his social media platform-of-choice Truth Social yesterday afternoon that other countries offering incentives to draw filmmakers away from the United States constitutes “a National Security threat”.
So he is authorizing the Commerce Department and the U.S. 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.”
Right now there are mostly questions regarding how such a tariff could be implemented, on what, when it would go into effect, would it be extended to TV productions, and how would it deal with the many movies shot and produced in multiple countries – such as “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” opening later this month.
Analysts indicate things could get bad with fewer (and more expensive) films, lower returns, and both U.S.-made cinema releases and U.S.-owned streamers possibly getting taxed or even blocked outside the United States. Meanwhile the Motion Picture Association says the American movie industry had an overall $15.3 billion trade surplus in 2023.
UPDATE: The White House has released an official statement, spokesman Kush Desai saying: “Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.”
