Donald Trump announces 100% tariff on non-US movies as film industry ‘dying’ | US News

Donald Trump has said he will target films made outside of the US as part of his ongoing tariff war.

The US president said the country’s movie industry was “dying a very fast death”.

He complained that other countries were “offering all sorts of incentives to draw” filmmakers and film studios away from the United States.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, he said this was a “concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat”.

Mr Trump said he had authorised the Department for Commerce and the office of the US trade representative to put a 100% tariff “on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands”.

It comes as the president made another policy announcement on social media on Sunday, announcing he would order the reopening of notorious prison Alcatraz.

It is unclear how the tariff would affect international productions, such as the upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which is filmed in the US as well as other countries around the world.

Data from the Motion Picture Association shows American movies produced $22.6bn (£17bn) in exports and $15.3bn (£11.5bn) in surplus in 2023.

The latest tariff announcement from President Trump is part of a wider crackdown on US imports announced last month.

In a news conference outside the White House, he outlined a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with varying levies allocated – later increasing the tariff on Chinese goods to 145%.

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It is not the first time Mr Trump has voiced concern around movie production moving overseas.

He appointed actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood shortly before he took office, vowing to bring Hollywood back “bigger, better, and stronger than ever before”.

US film and television production has faced a challenging period in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, which has included the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in Los Angeles.

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Overall film and TV production in the US was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro.

Expanding on his announcement, Mr Trump told reporters in the White House on Sunday night that other nations had been “stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States”.