President Donald Trump announced plans Sunday to implement a 100% tariff on movies made in other countries that are imported to the United States, decrying other nations for offering financial incentives meant 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," Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to foreign films as "messaging and propaganda."
"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," he continued.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday that "other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities from the United States," blaming California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the decline in film production in Hollywood specifically over the last several years.
A spokesman for Newsom did not respond to a request for comment Sunday night.
"If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States, we should have a tariff when movies come in," Trump said. "I can tell you one thing, moviemakers love it."
The American film industry has suffered a series of economic blows in recent years, including the Hollywood labor strikes and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Physical production has declined in California amid budget cuts and more generous tax incentives elsewhere. FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that coordinates film permits and supports on-location production in the Los Angeles region, reported lower-than-average soundstage occupancy in recent years. The report notes that competing jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada, have more than doubled their stage production capacity over the last years, alongside other U.S. states, such as New York and Georgia.
However, while overall production was down in Los Angeles, the report found that the production of feature films specifically was up 18.8% last year, though the category is still well below its five-year average.
"Unfortunately for all involved, fewer film, television and commercial projects in production makes it harder to fill studio vacancies," the report read.
Trump appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to Hollywood in January, calling the industry a “great but very troubled place." Their job, Trump said at the time, was to bring business back to Hollywood, which he said "has lost much business over the last four years to foreign countries."
Last month, Voight’s manager, Steven Paul, confirmed to NBC News that he and Voight intended to present Trump with a suite of ideas to ramp up American film and television production. It is unclear whether that meeting has occurred.
The Motion Picture Association, a trade organization that represents Hollywood’s leading studios, declined to comment. In a recent economic report based on U.S. government data, the MPA found that Hollywood has a positive trade balance in all the world’s major markets.
NBC News did not immediately receive responses to requests for comment from Paul; Cinema United, a trade group that represents movie theaters; and several distributors that release foreign-made films, including Netflix.
China announced new tariffs on Hollywood films imported into the country about a month ago, though Reuters reports the move was unlikely to have a significant financial impact on Hollywood given steadily declining box office returns from China.
