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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he would meet with Hollywood executives after confounding the US film industry over his plan to impose a 100% tariff on movies made overseas.
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“So we’re going to meet with the industry,” Trump said Monday afternoon. “I want to make sure they’re happy with it, because we’re all about jobs.”
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Film and entertainment figures on Monday struggled to interpret Trump’s directive, posted to his social media account on Sunday evening, which said the American movie industry is “DYING” and cast foreign films as a national security threat that spread propaganda to US audiences.
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“WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Trump said.
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Shares of Netflix Inc., Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. and other media and entertainment companies slid as Wall Street and Hollywood tried to discern what aspect of filmmaking would qualify for such tariffs and why it should be targeted like other industries.
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The US film and television industry produced $22.6 billion in exports and ran a $15.3 billion trade surplus, according to a 2023 Motion Picture Association report. The industry generated a positive trade balance with every major market in the world, the report said.
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Earlier: Netflix, Disney Shares Slip on Tariff Plans for Foreign Films
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Trump on Sunday ordered the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative to “immediately” begin work on the tariff process.
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“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Monday.
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The statement provided no specifics about how the import taxes would be crafted and implemented, or under what legal authority they would fall — should Trump decide to move forward.
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The president’s assertion that foreign movies threaten national security suggests the administration may rely on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which gives the Commerce Department 270 days to investigate alleged dangers of certain imports. At the end of the probe, the president could impose tariffs. Trump has used the authority to slap duties on autos and metals.
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Tariffing films, should Trump chose to do so, would prove complicated.
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Many films from Hollywood studios involve global production, including shooting locations in foreign countries and post-production work that can be done anywhere in the world. Other unanswered questions include whether the charge would apply to films already shot, but not yet released, or only new productions.
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Stephen Follows, a writer, producer and storytelling consultant, said that Trump “lit a fire under an issue the industry has rarely confronted head-on. What does it actually mean for a move to be made in America?”
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