Donald Trump imposes 100 per cent tariffs on films made outside of the US
Donald Trump has announced that he will be authorising 100 per cent tariffs on films made outside of the United States.
Back in February, President Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on imports from a number of countries but due to backlash, he delayed the majority of them.
Late last night (May 4), the President took to the Truth Social platform to share an update on the tariffs’ impact on the film industry. He wrote: “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.”
Trump continued: “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!”
Concrete details on his 100 per cent tariff plans have yet to be shared, and it is currently unknown if this will only apply to foreign films, or if it will include US productions that are partially filmed overseas.
Trump was the subject of the 2024 film The Apprentice, starring Sebastian Stan as Trump and Succession‘s Jeremy Strong as his mentor Roy Cohn. Last month Jordan Belfort, known as the ‘real-life Wolf Of Wall Street’ – also the subject of his own film (The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio) – voiced his support for Trump’s tariffs plan.
Belfort said: “The United States has been drained of its wealth, drained of its factories. It’s not gonna be pretty. There’s going to be pain – but the path we were on before is simply unsustainable. It had to change.” He went on to say he was sceptical over fears the tariffs will hit US consumers hard, with some predicting goods – including popular items such as the iPhone – could jump in price if costs are passed on.
Trump’s tariffs plans have already affected other entertainment industries. Live music stocks have crashed and inflicted “damage” on the instrument market, while radio giants got rocked, with iHeartMedia stocks falling more than 13 per cent, Cumulus Media dropping over 10 percent, followed closely by SiriusXM.
Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 were also delayed due to the tariffs, and US video game trade group Entertainment Software Association (ESA) warned the financial plan will have “a real and detrimental impact” on the games industry
Most recently, Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end the federal funding of “biased media” outlets National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
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Surej Singh
NME
