Hollywood big shots were totally freaking out on Monday trying to figure out what the heck President Trump meant when he said he wanted to slap hefty tariffs on movies made outside the U.S. This bombshell idea would totally flip the script on how movies have been made for, like, forever.
So Trump dropped the bomb on Sunday night, saying he was down to slap a 100% tariff on movies “coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” He’s all about bringing jobs back home, and he thinks this is the way to do it.
But like, studios love shooting their movies in cool places like Canada, Britain, Bulgaria, New Zealand, and Australia. Those countries give them sweet deals to film there and show off their landmarks on the big screen.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to shout, “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.” Tough words, man.
Studio bosses were totally blindsided by this move. They think it would be way better if the government just gave them a tax credit to keep productions in the U.S. Tariffs would just make everything more expensive and probably kill the film industry faster.
No one really knows how these movie tariffs would even work. One film exec, who couldn’t talk publicly, was like, “Is it on movies funded by Americans but filmed overseas? Or is it on movies funded by foreigners? Is it on how much money the movies make, or how much they cost to make? Who knows, man. This is a mess.”
Governor Gavin Newsom is calling on Trump to set up a federal film tax credit program that would give studios at least $7.5 billion in incentives to film in the U.S. He’s hoping to work with Trump to make this happen and boost American production.
Foreign production incentives have been crushing LA’s film scene, especially after all the drama with COVID-19, labor strikes, and companies losing out to streaming services. The wildfires earlier this year didn’t help either. Production is down 22% compared to last year.
The big entertainment companies aren’t saying squat about Trump’s plan. They’re probably just as confused as everyone else. People are wondering if giants like Disney, Warner Bros., Amazon, and Netflix would get hit with tariffs for filming outside the U.S.
According to the Motion Picture Assn., the U.S. makes a ton of money exporting entertainment. So, like, why mess with a good thing?
The White House is warning everyone to chill out because they haven’t made any final decisions yet. They’re planning to chat with the movie bigwigs to figure out the nitty-gritty details.
Some crew leaders are actually on board with Trump’s plan to protect American jobs. They’re tired of studios going overseas for cheap labor while dumping American workers.
But slapping tariffs on movies is a messy business. It’s not like cars where you can just tax them when they come into the country. Movies are distributed digitally, which makes it a headache to figure out how to tax them.
Plus, the World Trade Organization has a rule against taxing digital trade until 2026, which is another roadblock.
Overall, this whole movie tariff idea is causing a lot of drama in Hollywood. People are worried about what it means for the industry and if it will lead to other countries hitting back with their own taxes.
And just when everyone was getting ready for the Cannes Film Festival, this bombshell drops. Senior lenders are freaking out about how this could mess up movie distribution.
So, yeah, it’s a wild time in Tinseltown right now. Let’s see how this all plays out.
