Concern over how tariffs could impact Irish film industry
The co-CEO of Element Films, Ed Guiney, has expressed concern and confusion over US President Donald Trump's comments about imposing a 100 per cent tariff on films not made in the USA.
'Honestly, we're all scratching our heads. I mean, it was very disconcerting to wake up to that bombshell yesterday morning. And actually, I suppose since then, as with, as is often the case with Trump, things have moderated and changed. And now the White House are making more, I won't say positive, but they're kind of qualifying the statement, I suppose,' he told RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland.
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'But it's really hard to understand how a tariff would be imposed because so much of the activity that happens in the world is actually owned by American studios. These things are services, they're not products in the way that you know you traditionally imagine tariffs being imposed on a product.
'So there is an awful lot of head-scratching. I think behind it, there is definitely an anxiety in the States in that there is a lot of what they call runaway production. In other words, American film and television production that shoots all around the world. And actually, we benefit from it hugely here in Ireland.
'As is well known, we have an amazing crew base here and we've very decent incentives and a very buoyant industry. And same with the UK and Canada. But I think there is a feeling that a lot of American stuff should be shooting in the US, but actually that's largely down to the cost base in the States, which is very high, and also the incentives. And there are incentives in some of the states of America.
"So I think the other thing that's emerging in this is a conversation around whether there should be a federal tax incentive in America to keep American production at home.'
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Mr Guiney said that if such a tariff was imposed it would be 'very, very damaging' for the Irish film industry.
There was also an issue of how such a tariff could be gauged and how it could be implemented when many productions were internationally funded.
The uncertainty over the issue would not be good for business, he said. 'The uncertainty that this engenders is not good for business, it really isn't. And that's coming on the back of Covid.
"The SAG strike, the fires in L.A., you know, kind of a tough old time for the industry. So it just isn't helpful.'
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