After it looked like it had gone away, the threat of tariffs on movies produced outside the US has reared its head again.
U.S. President Donald Trump has remade the threats. This is a return to his position from earlier this year when he had talked about a 100% tariff on films taking advantage of overseas rates and tax breaks.
His position remains that it is to support a US film industry that is currently experiencing “a very fast death”, pointing to the negative impact on California.
He claimed that US productions heading overseas were a “long-time, never-ending problem”.
In a post on TruthSocial he said:
“Our movie-making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit.
The 100% tariff would be imposed) on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.”
There are no further details on how this would be applied, what the exemptions might be, and if it will affect streaming or just theatrical releases.
Canada, Australia and the UK would likely be the hardest hit as Hollywood has, for decades, taken advantage of tax rates and facilities in these countries.
