Trump Enacts Full Tariff on International Films, Points to Security Threats
Donald Trump announced a 100 percent tax on foreign-produced films in order to revitalize the US film industry. He called these films "propaganda and messaging" and raising national security issues.
Trump Enacts Full Tariff on International Films, Points to Security Threats
In a major move that aims to revive this American cinema industry US president Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he has given for the Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative (USTR) to start the process of applying a 100% tax on all films produced in other countries than the US.
In a post on the Truth Social platform, Trump has criticized other countries for providing lucrative incentives to draw American filmmakers and studios overseas and said the situation was an economic and a national security risk.
"The American movie industry is dying a very fast death," Trump declared. "This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat," Trump stated in a blog post to Truth Social. "It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!"
Trump declared the need to restore domestic film production. He also said, "We want movies made in America again!"
He also said that the new Trump tariffs are designed to even the levels of competition and to encourage producers to continue operating on US land.
The 100 percent tax on films made in foreign countries comes less than a month following China announced a plan to reduce the amount of Hollywood films it allows into its market as in reaction to Trump applying unprecedented tax rates to Chinese products. China is the second-largest movie market.
But, instead of revitalizing Hollywood however, the tariffs hold the potential of backfiring and further harm the major studios, including Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros, which are still recovering from the pandemic, CNN said in a report. This is due to the fact that a lot of American films are produced in other countries to take advantage of tax on foreign produced films breaks and lower labour costs.
Trump's demand for the imposition of tariffs on film production is an abrupt departure from his previous preference for physical goods. If the proposal is approved, they will become the initial US taxes targeting the production of services, not goods.
