
Trump White House says ‘no final decisions' on foreign film tariffs
The White House said on Monday that no final decisions have been made about imposing tariffs on foreign films, just a day after Donald Trump declared a 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the United States – an announcement that sparked widespread alarm across the global film industry.
'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,' White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
The US president had announced the tariffs on his Truth Social platform, claiming he had authorized '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.'
In his Sunday post, Trump offered few details on how such a trade penalty would work, but warned that the US film industry was 'DYING a very fast death' and said that there was a 'concerted effort' by other countries to offer 'all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States' – which he said was a 'national security threat'.
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick responded on X on Sunday evening, writing: 'We're on it.'
The announcement sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry.
On Monday, shares in US streaming platforms and production companies dropped as uncertainty loomed, especially because Trump's post did not say whether the tariffs would apply to films distributed on streaming platforms.
Netflix shares were down 1.7% by early afternoon, while Amazon dipped 1.5%. Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount dropped 1.1% and 1% respectively.
In Australia and New Zealand, which serve as major production hubs for global franchises such as the Lord of the Rings series, its Tolkienesque cousin The Hobbit, and various Marvel films, lawmakers in those countries responded that they would advocate for their respective film industries.
Australia's home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said that he had spoken with the head of the government body Screen Australia about the proposed tariffs and that 'nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry.'
And New Zealand's prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said: 'We'll have to see the detail of what actually ultimately emerges. But we'll be obviously a great advocate, great champion of that sector in that industry.'
In the UK, a parliamentarian also warned that such tariffs were 'not in the interests of American businesses' and the UK media union Bectu urged the UK government to protect the country's 'vital' film sector, warning tens of thousands of freelance jobs could be at risk.
The announcement on Sunday follows Trump's earlier pledges to revitalize the US film industry. But early on Monday afternoon, the White House began walking back Trump's announcement, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Just before taking office, Trump appointed actors Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson as 'special ambassadors' to Hollywood tasked with bringing the industry back 'bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.'
The Associated Press reported that it is common for major blockbusters and smaller productions to film scenes in the US as well as internationally. Big-budget projects often span multiple countries.
For years, according to the AP, incentive programs have influenced where films are made, increasingly driving film production away from California to states and countries offering more favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the UK.
According to FilmLA, a non-profit that tracks production in the Los Angeles area, film and television production in LA has dropped by nearly 40% over the past decade.
Trump's announcement on Sunday comes after he triggered a trade war with China, and imposed global tariffs, unsettling global markets and sparking fears of a potential US recession.
In April, China, which is currently the world's second-largest film market after the US, responded to Trump's tariffs on Chinese products by reducing the quota of American movies allowed into the country.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Glasgow Times
12 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys National Guard troops
They blocked off a major road and set self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who do not leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover. People take cover as a firework explodes during a protest near the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles (Ethan Swope/AP) Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of four million people, were centred in downtown several blocks. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Mr Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the detention centre where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who appear at demonstrations to cause trouble. Several dozen people were arrested throughout the weekend of protest. One was detained on Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police, and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Let's get this straight: 1) Local law enforcement didn't need help. 2) Trump sent troops anyway — to manufacture chaos and violence. 3) Trump succeeded. 4) Now things are destabilized and we need to send in more law enforcement just to clean up Trump's mess. — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025 Mr Trump responded to Mr McDonnell on Truth Social, telling him to arrest protesters in face masks. 'Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!' he wrote. Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted 'shame' and 'go home'. After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. A protester stands on a burning Waymo taxi in Los Angeles (Eric Thayer/AP) Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom requested that Mr Trump remove the guard members in a letter on Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty'. He was in Los Angeles meeting local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. Mr Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Mr Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it a move designed to inflame tensions. They have both urged protesters to remain peaceful. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.' But Mr McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in the second and third days. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out on Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. Mr Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. A California Highway Patrol officer pulls an electric scooter off a vehicle as protesters throw objects at the police vehicles near the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles (Ethan Swope/AP) He mocked Mr Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Mr Trump never floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called Mr Trump a 'stone cold liar'. The admonishments did not deter the administration. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighbouring Compton. Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement. The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Mr Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Centre for Justice. In a directive on Saturday, Mr Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States'. He said he had authorised the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard. Mr Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not going to get away with it'. Asked if he planned to send US troops to Los Angeles, Mr Trump replied: 'We're going to have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' He did not elaborate. About 500 marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200 kilometres) east of Los Angeles were in a 'prepared to deploy status' on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Northern Command.


Reuters
15 minutes ago
- Reuters
Musk's father says Elon made a mistake 'under stress' and that Trump will prevail
MOSCOW, June 9 (Reuters) - The row between Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and U.S. President Donald Trump was triggered by stress on both sides and Elon made a mistake by publicly challenging Trump, Musk's father told Russian media in Moscow. Musk and Trump began exchanging insults last week on social media with Musk denouncing the president's sweeping tax and spending bill as a "disgusting abomination." "You know they have been under a lot of stress for five months - you know - give them a break," Errol Musk told the Izvestia newspaper during a visit to the Russian capital. "They are very tired and stressed so you can expect something like this." "Trump will prevail - he's the president, he was elected as the president. So, you know, Elon made a mistake, I think. But he is tired, he is stressed." Errol Musk also suggested that the row "was just a small thing" and would "be over tomorrow." Neither the White House nor Musk could be reached for comment outside normal U.S. business hours. Trump said on Saturday his relationship with billionaire donor Musk was over and warned there would be "serious consequences" if Musk decided to fund U.S. Democrats running against Republicans who vote for the tax and spending bill. Musk, the world's richest man, bankrolled a large part of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. Trump named Musk to head a controversial effort to downsize the federal workforce and slash spending.


Telegraph
17 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Stocks rally ahead of US-China trade talks in London
Stock markets jumped in Asia ahead of US-China trade talks due to get under way in Britain today. Shares were up from Hong Kong to Tokyo following a call late last week between US president Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Representatives from the world's two largest economies are due to meet at a still undisclosed location in London in an attempt to revive a preliminary trade agreement reached in Geneva last month. The US delegation will be led by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer. The Chinese contingent will be helmed by vice premier He Lifeng. Relations soured earlier this month after President Trump accused China of violating the terms of the deal. Beijing accused Washington of doing the same. Latest updates 09 June 2025 8:15am 8:15AM Government borrowing costs fall amid trade hopes The cost of government borrowing edged lower in Britain ahead of the talks between top US and Chinese trade officials in London. The yield on 10-year UK gilts – a benchmark for the cost of servicing the national debt – declined two basis points to 4.62pc on bond markets. Yields were also lower across the eurozone after the European Central Bank last week cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 2pc, as expected. Germany's 10-year bund yield was down nearly three basis points to 2.54pc. 8:06AM UK stocks muted ahead of trade talks The FTSE 100 opened slightly higher as the US and China prepare to hold trade talks in London. The UK's blue-chip stock index climbed 0.1pc to 8,845.73 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was flat at 21,159.10. 8:03AM Trump says China talks 'should go very well' Donald Trump said the talks in London 'should go very well'. The negotiations come just a few days after the US president and Xi Jinping finally held their first publicly announced telephone talks since the Republican returned to the White House. Trump said the call, which took place on Thursday, had reached a 'very positive conclusion.' Xi was quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua as saying that 'correcting the course of the big ship of Sino-US relations requires us to steer well and set the direction'. The call came after tensions between the world's two biggest economies had soared, with Trump accusing Beijing of violating a tariff de-escalation deal reached in Geneva in mid-May. Mr Trump's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday: 'We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva.' 7:46AM China export growth plunges as Trump tariffs bite China's export growth slowed to a three-month low in May as US tariffs hit shipments. Total exports from the world's second largest economy expanded by 4.8pc year-on-year last month, down from 8.1pc in April and below analyst expectations of 5pc, according to customs data. China's exports to the US plunged by 34.5pc in the sharpest drop since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in February 2020. Imports dropped 3.4pc, deepening sharply from the 0.2pc decline in April, despite the trade deal agreed between Beijing and Washington in Geneva at the start of last month. Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said: 'The slowdown in export growth in May should partially reverse this month, as it reflects the drop in US orders before the trade truce, which took time to feed through to actual shipments. 'But with tariffs likely to remain elevated and Chinese manufacturers facing broader constraints on their ability to sustain rapid gains in global market share, we think export growth will slow further by year-end.' Exports YoY in China decreased to 4.80 percent in May from 8.10 percent in April of 2025. — TRADING ECONOMICS (@tEconomics) June 9, 2025 7:35AM Trade war 'in nobody's interests' says UK Government Top US and Chinese officials will sit down in London today for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers. Their trade war has deepened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains. At a still-undisclosed venue in London, the two sides will try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva. The US delegation will be led by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer. The Chinese contingent will be helmed by vice premier He Lifeng. A UK Government spokesman said: 'The next round of trade talks between the US and China will be held in the UK on Monday. 'We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks.' 7:22AM FTSE 100 on track to open flat Investors in Europe appear more sceptical about the prospects of the US-China trade talks kicking off in London today. The FTSE 100, France's Cac 40 and Germany's Dax are all on track to open flat when trading gets underway later. Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said: 'Asian stocks are rallying at the start of the week; however, European equity futures and US futures are taking a breather and are pointing to a slightly lower open later today.' She added: 'Stocks may need a new driver to extend last week's rally after investors scaled back their expectations for Federal Reserve interest rates cuts for this year. There are less than two cuts priced in by the Fed Fund Futures market by the end of this year. 'The number of rate cuts from the Fed could be determined by the outlook for US inflation, which is released later this week. As the growth data remain unaffected by tariffs for now, inflation could hold the key for US monetary policy.' 7:15AM Good morning Thanks for joining me. Asian stock markets rallied overnight in the lead up to fresh trade talks between the US and China which will kick off in London later. Here is what you need to know. 5 things to start your day 1) Ukraine plots fracking revolution | Ukraine is working to unleash natural gas fracking with the goal of becoming a major exporter and revolutionising Europe's energy market 2) John Lewis to slim down staff committee to accelerate decisions | Retail giant to cut size of partnership council to 43 in bid to boost turnaround 3) British manufacturing is dying before our eyes | Labour needs to take bold action to lower energy costs in this week's industrial strategy 4) How £7 pints are destroying Britain's pubs | Rising costs are forcing beleaguered publicans to raise prices, driving cash-strapped customers away 5) Lawyer who acted for Gerry Adams to pursue chatbots for libel | The high-profile media lawyer who represented Gerry Adams in his libel trial against the BBC is now preparing to sue the world's most powerful AI chatbots for defamation. What happened overnight Shares rose in Asia ahead of the second round of trade talks between Washington and Beijing, due later today in London. In South Korea, the Kospi added 1.9pc to 2,865.52. Chinese markets rose even though the government reported that exports slowed in May, growing 4.8pc from a year earlier after a jump of more than 8pc in April. Exports to the United States fell nearly 10pc compared with a year earlier. China also reported that consumer prices fell 0.1pc in May from a year earlier, marking the fourth consecutive month of deflation. Hong Kong's Hang Seng picked up 1.4pc to 24,119.64 while the Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.4pc to 3,397.13. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1.1pc to 38,137.09 as the government reported that the Japanese economy contracted by 0.2pc in the January-March quarter. Australia's market was closed for a public holiday. On Friday, stocks gained ground on Wall Street following a better-than-expected report on the US job market. The gains were broad, with every sector in the S&P 500 rising. That solidified a second consecutive winning week for the benchmark index, which has rallied back from a slump two months ago to come within striking distance of its record high. The S&P 500 rose 1pc to 6,000.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1pc to 42,762.87 while the Nasdaq gained 1.2pc, to 19,529.95.