President Donald Trump declared that he will be placing a tariff on movies produced outside of the United States.
Announcing the move on Truth Social, Trump said, “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!”
“Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” he wrote.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office condemned Trump’s call, writing on X, “The Governor tried to explain this to Trump months ago — when this was initially proposed — that his actions will cause irreparable damage to the U.S. film industry.” The office added that the effort is “100% stupid.”
Trump initially threatened to impose 100% tariffs on foreign-made movies in May, explaining that “Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.” He likened the situation to a national security threat through other countries’ film incentives, noting, “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
Newsom said at the time that California was ” eager to partner with the Trump administration to further strengthen domestic production and Make America Film Again.”
Reynolds Martin, President and CEO of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), said in May that the tariffs would cause “significant disruption and economic hardship to the media production sectors on both sides of the Canada-US border.”
