Trump threatens a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, saying the movie industry in the US is dying
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways
President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.
In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff 'on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.'
'The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,' he wrote, complaining that other countries 'are offering all sorts of incentives to draw' filmmakers and studios away from the U.S. 'This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!'
The White House said Monday that it was figuring out how to comply with the president's wishes.
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'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,' said spokesperson Kush Desai.
It's common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' for instance, are shot around the world.
Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Yet Trump's tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace.
China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster 'Ne Zha 2' grossing more than $2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, it earned just $20.9 million.
In New Zealand, where successive governments have offered rebates and incentives in recent years to draw Hollywood films to the country, the film industry has generated billions of dollars in tourism revenue driven by the 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hobbit' films, which featured the country's pristine and scenic vistas. More recently, the blockbuster 'Minecraft' movie was filmed entirely in New Zealand, and U.S. productions in 2023 delivered $1.3 billion New Zealand dollars ($777 million) to the country in return for NZ$200 million in subsidies, according to government figures.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was awaiting more details of Trump's measures before commenting on them but would continue to pitch to filmmakers abroad, including in India's Bollywood. 'We've got an absolutely world class industry,' he said. 'This is the best place to make movies, period, in the world.'
The Motion Picture Association, which represents major U.S. film studios and streaming services, didn't immediately respond to messages Sunday evening.
The MPA's data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023.
Trump, a Republican, has made good on the 'tariff man' label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened.
By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead.
Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas.
Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as 'special ambassadors' to Hollywood to bring it 'BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!'
U.S. film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production.
The group's annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the U.S. made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth.
The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed expanding California's Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually, up from $330 million.
Other U.S. cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.
'Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. 'If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in.'
___
Associated Press writers Gary Fields in Washington and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.
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"China is hurting, yes—but they still hold the upper hand on critical resources, and they know how to use them." Any lessening of tensions — and freer flow — of these mineral resources in China would be a significant boost to the global economy with China holding outsized leverage in both the reserves and processing capacity of these key building blocks for everything from computers to electric vehicle batteries to medical devices. Likewise, the US offering concessions on export controls would be a significant move after years where successive US administrations have wielded these controls — especially around the design and manufacture of semiconductors — by saying they need to be tight on China for national security reasons. Read more here. May's Consumer Price Index (CPI) report will be released on Wednesday and its expected to show that prices rose a bit faster than in April. Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal breaks down what to look out for and how President Trump's tariffs are impacting what consumers are now paying for goods and services. Read more here. Now that the US-China trade truce is back on track, both sides are keen to ensure it stays that way. China's Vice Premier He Lifeng said both sides need to now 'show the spirit of good faith in abiding by their commitments and jointly safeguard the hard-won results of the dialogue.' Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Despite the US-China trade truce resuming the pain from President Trump's tariffs remains in China, especially among small exporters. Reuters reports: Read more here. Japan warned Wednesday that tariffs threaten its economic growth, the government said in a monthly report. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. A federal appeals could said on Tuesday that President Trump's sweeping tariffs can continue for now. This is a significant win for Trump, who introduced tariffs back in March and declared "Liberation Day," as he saw them as a way to free the US from what he called unfair trade practices. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Early summer sales for Inditex, the owner of fashion retailer Zara, came in weaker, as the company missed expectations for first quarter sales on Wednesday. President Trump's tariffs have impacted consumer demand in the US and other major markets. Reuters reports: Read more here. After weeks of back and forth, the US and China have agreed on a framework to implement the Geneva consensus that helped ease tariffs. The breakthrough came after two days of talks in London, including a marathon session on Tuesday. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said both sides had to "get the negativity out" before making progress. 'Now we can go forward to try to do positive trade, growing trade,' he said. As part of the deal, Beijing has promised to speed up shipments of rare earth metals, a crucial component for global auto and defense industries. Washington will ease export controls. This marks the first sign of movement on key issues. The proposal will now be presented to President Trump and China's Xi. Still, the discussions also did little to resolve a long-standing issue: China's trade surplus with the US. 'Markets will likely welcome the shift from confrontation to coordination,' said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets. 'We're not out of the woods yet — it's up to Trump and Xi to approve and enforce the deal.' The meeting was set up after a phone call between the two leaders, following weeks of each side accusing the other of breaking the Geneva commitments. Both countries had used chips, rare earths, student visas and ethane as bargaining tools. Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor at East China Normal University, said trust, not money, has been the biggest casualty of the trade war. 'We've heard a lot about frameworks,' he said. 'But the fundamental issue remains: Chips versus rare earths. Everything else is a peacock dance.' Bloomberg reports: Read more here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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