Film industry is outraged by Trump: “Doesn’t make sense”

Trump tariffs for film industry

“Doesn’t make sense”

The US film industry has skeptically responded to the announcement by US President Donald Trump to raise customs surcharges of a hundred percent of films produced abroad.

The US film industry has skeptically responded to the announcement by US President Donald Trump to raise customs surcharges of a hundred percent of films produced abroad. On Monday, film insiders described this as a policy that a president came up with who did not understand how the industry works. “There is no point,” said entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel. Many US productions from James Bond films to the cinema “Mission Impossible” would be shot abroad for obviously creative reasons.

“If the stunt is that Tom Cruise climbs onto the Eiffel Tower, what should we do – turn the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas on the replica of the Eiffel Tower?” said Handel. It is “just nonsensical”.

On Sunday, Trump said that he authorized the US Ministry of Trade “to start the introduction of a 100 % customs on all films that come to our country and are produced abroad”. “We want films to be made again in America,” he wrote on his online platform Truth Social based on his motto “Make America Great Again” (“makes America great again”).

The statements in the film industry triggered massive uncertainty – the share prices of the entertainment companies fell promptly, and it was also unclear whether the announcement also included on television series. It was also questionable whether such a step could be enforced at all.

In the course of trade, trade pointed out that films were about intellectual property. “You can buy a cinema card, but you don’t buy a film like a piece of clothing or a car” that could be taxed when passing the US limit.

Even if a customs survey system could be developed on films made outside of the USA, these taxes in the US industry would harm more than benefits, the lawyer added. In his view, the result would be “a reduction in production, a reduction in films and a reduction in the number of films that would be available for cinemas and streaming providers”.

Official reactions of most film studios and other industry organizations were still pending on Monday. Trump’s idea triggered uncertainty, but in Hollywood there is extensive unity that the US film industry is weakening.

The film industry is an important sector of the US economy. It offers more than 2.3 million jobs and, according to Motion Picture Association, the Association of Great US film production companies, made sales of $ 279 billion in 2022. In addition, the industry with more than three times as many exports as imports is an export hit.

But in 2023, months of strikes from screenwriters, actors, synchronous speakers and other Hollywood had paralyzed. In addition, there is the changed consumer behavior of consumers in the course of Corona pandemic to which the industry had to adapt.

According to a report by the Prodpro industry service from January, the United States in 2024, with production expenditure of $ 14.5 billion, was one of the leaders in film productions. However, this has been a decline of 26 percent since 2022.

A survey under bosses of film studios also showed that the five preferred film production locations for 2025 and 2026 are all outside the USA due to tax benefits. The Canadian Toronto was the leader, followed by Great Britain, also Canadian Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia. California took sixth place.

The magazine “Deadline” quoted an industry insider with the words that he actually agreed with Trump’s goal of making more films in the USA. But obviously the industry needs taxes “and no tariffs”. Customs would only “stall the rest of the life” from the film business.