Update: looks like tariffs are back on the menu, boys. On September 29, 2025, President Trump announced that there will be a 100% tariff on movies not made in the USA. “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing candy from a baby,” the President stated on Truth Social this morning. Much like when this original article was posted, we have no idea how you can tariff a service, as opposed to a raw material, so we don’t know if this affects credits, grants, movie ticket prices, bluray costs, or any number of ways this could affect consumers and workers. Stay tuned for more. Original story follows.

Editors note: we wrote this editorial before the White House clarified its stance, but we decided to run the story, as there’s ample points made as to why tariffing the film industry is a bad idea.

Since the writing of this article, President Donald Trump has paused the implementation of 100% tariffs on foreign-produced movies, stating he will meet with members of the film industry to discuss how to proceed.

Original story follows:

Another day, another crazy headline, and this time, it involves the film industry, so you know we have to write about it. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform and declared that there would be a 100% tariff on all films not made in the USA.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” wrote Trump. “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!”

There’s a lot to unpack with his plan. First, it’s unclear if he means American-produced films that shoot abroad or not. But his wording seems to imply that he doesn’t like that, citing other countries using incentives to draw filmmakers away from the U.S. But not every movie has to take place in the U.S. Sure, there’s sets and studios, but you can do so much by shooting on location. John Wick: Chapter 4 was shot largely in France and Japan, and you got a degree of authenticity that you can’t replicate in a studio or against a green screen. Warner Bros, likewise, shoots the Harry Potter films and the upcoming HBO television series in the U.K., despite being an American production. Does he expect everyone to simply relocate to L.A. and to film on the lot? Interestingly, he did not mention television in his post, despite the fact that the two industries operate pretty much the same in terms of production these days. Likewise, distributors may think twice about buying the rights to a film at a film festival if they would incur a 100% tariff because it was filmed abroad. Not good for indie films or anime films, for example. Likewise, how does that affect someone like Netflix, who picks up plenty of projects from overseas, including a big platform for projects from South Korea, or from France, such as Arcane. How will these tariffs work for streamers, who charge monthly or annual rates for entire catalogues?

There are incentives to shoot abroad, but that’s because film (and television) is such a global network now. You can produce in the States, but visual effects are often done around the world and much like shooting on location, there’s often tax breaks or credits for bringing projects abroad, thus bringing costs down for the American studio producing the project.

It’s also wild that he calls the film industry of other nations propaganda and thus, a National Security threat, and his knee-jerk is to implement a tariff. He was granted tariff privileges to combat fentanyl with emergency powers, but I don’t see how the film industry ties into the drug trade. The American movie industry also isn’t dying. While numbers are down, as they are globally, Hollywood is still one of the biggest revenue earners in the industry, with India and China swapping spots for the number one market with the U.S. over the years. But foreign films are never massive blockbuster hits in the US, so it’s not like they’re eating into the domestic market. Case in point: Godzilla Minus One, which earned $57 million total, whereas Thunderbolts* raked in $71 million in its opening weekend alone domestically.

Naturally, the stock value of the likes of Netflix, Warner, and Disney has dropped since the announcement. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s senior advisor for communications Bob Salladay said in a statement that, “We believe he has no authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, since tariffs are not listed as a remedy under that law,”. Time will tell if this tariff goes forward and if other countries will retaliate in kind.

In an additional response, California Governor Gavin Newsom posted a more conciliatory message to his X account: “California built the film industry — and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home. We’ve proven what strong state incentives can do. Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again. @POTUS, let’s get it done.”

Many things are still uncertain. We will update this article as news develops