Donald Trump said that he is ordering the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department to begin the process to impose a 100% tariff on imports of movies that are produced in “foreign lands.”
Calling runaway production a “national security threat,” Trump’s comments follow reports that one of his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, Jon Voight, was a devising a plan to save the entertainment industry.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing 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. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Voight has met with various guild officials and studio executives in recent weeks, and there was some expectation of a federal tax incentive. There has long been a push within the industry for a more robust federal tax incentive, as opposed to state tax breaks, as a way to keep more production in the United States. But there also have been concerns that Trump would try to impose restrictions on filming overseas, as generous incentives in the UK, Canada and Australia have long lured Hollywood studio tentpole production.
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A spokesperson for the Motion Picture Association did not immediately return a request for comment.
More to come.