President Trump announced a 100% tariff on all foreign films in an effort to promote domestic film production, principally in Hollywood.
This is the worst idea ever. Forget its legality, it's just plain dumb. Imposing tariffs on artistic endeavors would be a first. Films are not products, but collaborations presented in digital form.
Film production has indeed shifted outside the U.S., but this is due entirely to the high cost of domestic production, particularly in California.
Someone should ask Trump, "How do you enforce a movie tariff given that films use production, financing, post-production, and visual effects across multiple countries?"
California already has a slew of tax incentives for film production, as do other States, but it's still infinitely cheaper to produce overseas. Imposing tariffs on foreign films is not going to save 'dying Hollywood' - California's problems are much deeper and are impacting many industries negatively.
And what about streamers? How would tariffs apply to streaming platforms?
In 2024, the international marketplace accounted for over 70% of total box office admissions. Therefore, reciprocal tariffs by other countries would result in the loss of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs within the U.S.
Making a movie is a very complex endeavor. It's very common for films to include production in the U.S. and other countries. "When you make these sorts of blanket rules, in this case tariffs, you're missing some of the nuance of how films are made", says Steven Schiffran, Professor at Georgetown University, "sometimes a director needs to film in an overseas location(s) when producing a film. For example, the Harry Potter films were shot entirely in the U.K. To produce them in the U.S. would have doubled their cost."
If a 100% tariff were imposed on foreign films, admission costs at U.S. cinemas would have to rise, placing further stress on struggling movie attendance.
Tariffs on foreign films are a bad idea, and I predict it will never happen.
Jim Lavorato
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