First it was steel, then it was cars, now it\u2019s movies. The list of industries deemed critical to safeguarding U.S. national security grew longer on Sunday after President Trump declared plans to impose 100% tariffs on movies produced abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president argued Tinseltown has been \u201cdevastated\u201d by countries that offered studios incentives to shoot on location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,\u201d he said, implying foreign films could impose alien views antithetical to American values. \u201cIt is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Trump’s first 100 days have been characterized by an “economic war against the whole world<\/a>“, one minute imposing tariffs, only to roll them back the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A movie tariff would however be the first time that Trump levied import duties on something beyond tangible goods produced by manufacturers. While movies require physical reels to be operated at a cinema, films themselves are often classified as audiovisual services under international trade.\u00a0Movies streamed at home meanwhile are viewed as digital goods still subject to a moratorium<\/a> on tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re on it,\u201d\u00a0Trump\u2019s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick posted<\/a>\u00a0 to X<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Determining whether a good is domestic or foreign is fairly straightforward. Under the rules of origin<\/a>, governments examine how much content in a specific product comes from inputs shipped in from abroad and if certain thresholds are met, they are exempt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Electric vehicles assembled in the U.S., for example, might be deemed imports if they rely on battery cells\u2014the single biggest cost in the bill of goods\u2014that are imported from China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How this same approach might apply to films to determine their economic nationality is unclear. There is trade protectionism, but it takes the form of non-tariff barriers such as quotas and mandates designed to serve domestic audiences or promote specific culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s not clear what will be impacted. Is it just movies or also streaming series?\u201d\u00a0Henning Molfenter, a former head of film and TV production at Germany\u2019s Studio Babelsberg said<\/a> in comments to\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. \u201cIs it visual effects, co-productions, international film financing? There\u2019s a huge degree of uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the Constitution, only the legislative arm of the government has the authority to ratify trade deals and when necessary restrict the flow of goods and services via tariffs. There is however an exemption permitting the executive branch to intervene in trade when there is a threat to the safety of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has regularly relied on this exception. In his first 100 days, he has imposed sectoral tariffs in addition to his so-called \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d on countries without seeking the consent of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n "Other nations have been stealing the moviemaking capabilities from the United States," says @POTUS<\/a>. \u201cOther nations have been stealing the movies, the movie-making capabilities from the United States,\u201d Trump told reporters later. \u201cI said to a couple of people \u2018what do you think?\u2019. I\u2019ve done some very strong research over the last week and we\u2019re making very few movies now, Hollywood is being destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protecting Hollywood from foreign competition may surprise many observers, since it is considered a Democratic stronghold often viewed with suspicion by Trump\u2019s MAGA base. But it has indeed taken a recent hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the midst of a global decline in production and intensifying competition for film projects, on-location production in Greater Los Angeles\u2014home to most major studios\u2014declined by 22% during the first quarter, according to data published last month<\/a> by FilmLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The World Trade Organization declined to provide a statement, telling Fortune<\/em> it does not comment as a general rule on the policies of its individual members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether tariffs are an effective policy to answer Hollywood\u2019s deeper problems and usher in the return of its golden era remains speculative.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen Wolfe Pereira, a former media executive with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, called the idea that U.S. national security is threatened by the film industry\u2019s decline \u201cbogus\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the real threats to the industry may not be found in other countries, but elsewhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAI is quietly replacing over 20% of production roles today regardless of where cameras role, so the real disruption is not geographic, it\u2019s actually technological,\u201d Wolfe Pereira\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0Bloomberg Television in an interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is not the only structural headwind Hollywood faces, either. User-generated content on social media sites like TikTok regularly outcompetes studios for consumer attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe whole rise of digital technologies [and] alternative means of entertainment,\u201d Wolfe Pereira said, \u201cthose are much bigger threats to the traditional Hollywood ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/a><\/p>Uncertainty on how tariffs might apply to films<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trump warns ‘other nations have been stealing the movies’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
"Hollywood is being destroyed … If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States, then we should have a tariff on movies that come in." pic.twitter.com\/g3lxoGppmJ<\/a><\/p>— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote> \n\n\n\nArtificial intelligence and TikTok are the real threats to Hollywood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n