Trump Calls for 100% Tariff on All Foreign-Made Movies

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was ordering new tariffs on all films made outside the United States, claiming Hollywood was being \”devastated\” by a trend of US filmmakers and studios working abroad.

The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe.

\”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 wrote on his Truth Social platform.

\”WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!\”

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reposted Trump\’s missive, saying \”We\’re on it.\”

No details were provided on how the tariff would be implemented.

Trump\’s post comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the US president\’s combative trade policies with 145 percent tariffs on many goods, said last month it would reduce the number of US films it imported.

\”The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,\” Trump wrote Sunday.

He noted that Hollywood and numerous other regions across the U.S.A. are facing devastation,\” adding that the shift of productions to foreign countries poses a \”national security risk.

The impact on the film industry and the specifics of how these tariffs would be implemented were not readily apparent.

Trump\’s post made no reference to whether television series, which have become an increasingly popular and lucrative segment of screen productions, might be impacted.

The US does not rank in the top five.

Hollywood represents a significant part of the U.S. economy, accounting for over 2.3 million jobs and $279 billion in revenue in 2022, as reported by recent figures from the Motion Picture Association.

However, following the Hollywood strikes and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — which altered movie consumption habits as Americans preferred watching from home rather than going to cinemas — industry experts claim that the sector continues to grapple with restoring its former vigor.

A January report from production tracking service ProdPro revealed that the United States stands out as a leading location for film productions, with a spending of $14.5 billion on production costs. However, this figure represents a 26 percent decrease when contrasted with the figures from two years prior.

A survey of studio executives indicated that their top five choices for production locations in 2025 and 2026 were all based abroad, attributed to attractive tax incentives provided by those regions.

The first was Toronto, followed by Britain, then Vancouver, Central Europe, and subsequently Australia. California ranked sixth.

Prior to his inauguration in January, Trump nominated long-time supporters Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight as special envoys for Hollywood.

In a post on Truth Social, he stated that they would make the entertainment industry \”STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE.\”

Trump and the Republicans have traditionally received scant support from the entertainment industry, and a galaxy of stars from Taylor Swift to George Clooney backed Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.