Robert De Niro Slams Trump's ‘Unacceptable' Movie Tariffs at Cannes Film Festival Opening Ceremony
'Now, he has announced a 100% tariff on films produced outside the U.S. Let that sink in for a minute. You can't put a price on creativity, but apparently you can put a tariff on it,' De Niro said, who took the stage to receive an honorary Palme d'Or award.
He went on to call on attendees and others watching to take a peaceful stand against Trump's political missions.
'Of course, this is unacceptable. All these attacks are unacceptable, and this isn't just an American problem. It's a global one. And like a film, we can't just all sit back and watch,' De Niro, who's never shied away from sharing his thoughts about Trump, said. 'We have to act now. Without violence, but with great passion and determination. It's time for everyone who cares about liberty to organize, to protest, and when there are elections, of course to vote. Tonight, and for the next 11 days, we show our strength and commitment by celebrating art in this glorious festival.'
Cannes Film Festival Jury President Juliette Binoche also shared her thoughts on Trump's tariff plans, which she referred to as the president's way of rescuing the country and his own behind.
'I understand that Trump is trying to protect,' Binoche said before a group reporters during Cannes's opening press conference. 'For us, we have a strong community of filmmaking on our continent in Europe … I don't know what to say — I can see that he's fighting to save America and to save his ass.'
She added that she's not 'acceptable to answer' questions related to Trump's interest in considering TV and film tariffs for projects shot overseas.
Back on May 4, Trump announced plans to enforce a 100% tariff on films produced outside of the country, mentioning in a Truth Social post that the United State's film industry is 'dying a very fast' death because of the incentives foreign countries offer filmmakers to shoot on their land.
Strong, who is among the nine members of the festival's 2025 Cannes Competition jury, and starred as Trump's former advisor Roy Cohn in the 2024 film 'The Apprentice,' didn't weigh in Trump's tariffs plans, but shared that the real-figure he played helped pave the way for Trump's entry into the White House.
'Roy Cohn is the progenitor of fake news and alternative facts, and we're living in the aftermath of what he created,' Strong said.
He continued: 'I think that at a time when truth is under assault, where truth is becoming an endangered thing, the role of stories and cinema here at the temple of film; the role of film is incredibly critical. It can combat that entropy and communicate individual truths, societal truths, and affirm our shared humanity. What I'm doing here this year is in a way to counterbalance what Roy Cohn was doing last year.'
Cannes Director Thierry Fremaux also chimed in, saying film and TV will find a way to overcome Trump's proposed tariffs.
'Cinema always finds a way of existing and reinventing itself,' Fremaux said. 'The idea that American Cinema would be penalized by foreign countries, I think that is an idea worth discussing.'The post Robert De Niro Slams Trump's 'Unacceptable' Movie Tariffs at Cannes Film Festival Opening Ceremony appeared first on TheWrap.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
18 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
European leaders to join Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for White House meeting with Trump
KYIV, Ukraine — European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump about ending Russia's war in Ukraine. They are rallying around the Ukrainian leader after his exclusion from Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The remarkable show of solidarity — with leaders from France, Britain and Germany saying they would be at Zelenskyy's side at the White House on Monday — was an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelenskyy in a heated Oval Office encounter. 'The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt,' said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. 'It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump,' he said. The European leaders' physical presence to demonstrate their support for Ukraine could potentially help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal that Trump says he wants to broker with Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on X that she will take part in the talks, 'at the request' of Zelenskyy. The secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte, will also take part in the meeting, his press service said. The office of President Emmanuel Macron said the French leader will travel 'at the side of President Zelenskyy' and that he, too, would visit the White House. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also take part in the meeting with Trump, according to a statement from 10 Downing Street. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will also be part of the European group. Writing on X, he said he would discuss security guarantees, territorial issues, and further support for Ukraine. The grouped trip underscored European leaders' determination to ensure that Europe has a voice in Trump's attempted peace-making, after the U.S. president's summit on Friday with Putin — to which Zelenskyy wasn't invited. Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to 'shape this fast-evolving agenda.' After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all-but-abandoned, with the narrative shifting towards Putin's agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that a possible ceasefore is 'not off the table' but that the best way to end the war would be through a 'full peace deal.' Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has also resisted meeting Zelenskyy in person, saying that such a meeting can only take place once the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid. Speaking to the press after his meeting with Trump, the Russian leader raised the idea that Kyiv and other European capitals could 'create obstacles' to derail potential progress with 'behind-the-scenes intrigue.' For now, Zelenskyy offers the Europeans the 'only way' to get into the discussions about the future of Ukraine and European security, says RUSI's Melvin. However, the sheer number of European leaders potentially in attendance means the group will have to be 'mindful' not to give 'contradictory' messages, Melvin said. 'The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump,' he added. 'Trump won't want to be put in a corner.'
The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
Putin agreed to let US, Europe offer NATO-style security protections for Ukraine, Trump envoy says
NEW YORK (AP) — Special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Sunday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with President Donald Trump to allow the U.S. and European allies to offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war. 'We were able to win the following concession: That the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,' he said on CNN's 'State of the Union.' He added that it 'was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said that 'we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the 'Coalition of the willing' — including the European Union — is ready to do its share.' Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to 'robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing.' He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelenskyy thanked the United States for recent signals that Washington is willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine, but said the details remained unclear. 'It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine,' he said, 'But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do, and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees.' Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal because so much progress was made. 'We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal,' Witkoff said, without elaborating. 'We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal,' he said. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be 'additional consequences' as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there wasn't going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine wasn't at the talks. 'Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear, there are going to be consequences,' Rubio said on ABC's 'This Week.' 'But we're trying to avoid that. And the way we're trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities.' Rubio, who is also Trump's national security adviser, said he did not believe issuing new sanctions on Russia would force Putin to accept a ceasefire, noting that the latter isn't off the table but that 'the best way to end this conflict is through a full peace deal.' 'The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to table will be severely diminished,' Rubio said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' He also said 'we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement' and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. 'We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement, but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off,' Rubio said. Zelenskyy and Europeans leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin. 'I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal, but we are on the path for the first time,' Witkoff said. He added: 'The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians — that could not have been discussed at this meeting' with Putin. 'We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon.'
The Hill
18 minutes ago
- The Hill
Witkoff says Trump, Putin agreed to ‘robust security guarantees' during summit
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to 'robust' security guarantees, including 'effectively' offering Ukraine Article Five-like protection, during their historic Friday meeting. 'We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing,' Witkoff said in an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' Witkoff explained that Russia agreed to allow the United States and other European countries to 'effectively offer [Ukraine] Article Five-like language to cover a security guarantee,' referring to the provision of NATO that states an attack on one NATO member is seen as an attack on all members. Russia has long opposed Ukraine's admission to NATO, Witkoff noted, saying a key reason Ukraine has sought membership is for that protection. 'Everything is going to be about what the Ukrainians can live with, but assuming they could, we were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article Five-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO,' Witkoff said. 'We sort of were able to bypass that and get an agreement that the United States could offer Article Five protection, which was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that,' he continued. Witkoff said other agreements included 'legislative enshrinement within the Russian Federation not to go after any other territory when the peace deal is codified,' as well as 'legislative enshrinement in the Russian Federation not to go after any other European countries and violate their sovereignty.' Witkoff said any deal is subject to Ukrainian agreement and said land swaps is the 'fundamental issue' at stake that could not be discussed in detail without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Witkoff said Trump, Zelensky and other European leaders plan to discuss the issues further at the White House meeting on Monday.
