A romantic scooter ride through the streets of Rome. An exhausted archeologist rushing through an Egyptian bazaar. A fellowship of travelers crossing the sweeping vistas of Middle-Earth. Scenes like this, from the movies Roman Holiday, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Lord of the Rings are indelible images from film history. They were shot on location, in Italy, Tunisia, and Mordor. (Okay, New Zealand.) They’re the kind of cinematic moments the current American President is trying to destroy.
And that’s only one potential issue with Trump’s latest Truth Social post-turned-political directive, which calls for “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!”
Trying to untangle the jibberish Trump posts to Truth Social is as annoying as the likelihood that it’ll ultimately be walked back to some degree. Yet on Monday, the statement has left an already uncertain film industry in even more turmoil. The wording of this post seems to imply that American films are being shut out of theaters because of too many international films, but theoretically, Trump is actually taking aim at American-produced movies which shot internationally, often in countries with generous tax credits to make the bother of leaving the United States worth it.
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Trump’s interest in curbing international production is theoretically based on a plan from Trump’s “Hollywood ambassador” Jon Voight. However, according to Deadline’s reporting, Voight’s plan involved offering a federal tax incentive to keep production in the United States. This tariff threat is far more stick than carrot.
It’s also completely impossible to understand exactly what he might have in mind here. For one thing, as the BBC notes, “The World Trade Organization (WTO) has a moratorium on tariffs for digital goods until 2026. Presumably films count as digital goods.” And there’s also the specific meaning behind “produced in Foreign Lands.” As Variety broke down succinctly on Monday morning:
“For U.S. companies that film overseas — the source of the ‘runaway’ concern — it’s not clear what transaction would be tariffed. When Disney makes a movie abroad, it doesn’t ‘import’ the movie from itself for a particular fee to show on U.S. screens.
“The moviemaking process is also highly internationalized — with some films shot partly in the U.S. and partly overseas. Editing might take place in the U.S. — or Canada, or somewhere else. Figuring out where to intervene in the value chain would be a challenge.”
The reason this is so complicated is that Hollywood is a global industry — one that “exports nearly three times as much entertainment as it imports,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. When American movies shoot in foreign countries, they employ both local talent as well as American talent. Those movies come back to American shores, playing in movie theaters owned and operated by American companies, streaming on services owned by American companies.
The state of domestic production has been an issue lately, particularly in the once quite active hub of Los Angeles. The current system isn’t perfect, there’s no question about that, but having a fifty-foot gorilla barge in is not going to make it better.
The Monday morning follow-up on Trump’s comments, from White House spokesman Kush Desai, as reported by THR, doesn’t necessarily clarify things: “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.”
Hollywood, to be clear, is not doing great right now. But Hollywood was showing signs of getting back on its feet after the pandemic and talent strikes, with big box office wins in April thanks to A Minecraft Movie and Sinners. And upending this industry the way other industries have been by Trump’s attempted tariffs won’t help.
Perhaps some more production will return to Los Angeles as a result, but with the overall rise in costs on the horizon, it’s more likely that countless productions will simply have to shut down. And in the meantime, Trump will have cut off Hollywood’s ability to tell the kinds of global stories, set against unique landscapes, that have made it a cultural force around the world.
