US President Donald Trump announced hitting foreign films with 100% tariffs in order to save the “dying” American movie industry.
According to CNN, after goods, Trump on Sunday, May 4, 2025, decided to extend his trade war to cinema as he instructed the Commerce Department to impose a 100% tariff on films filmsproduced outside the United States or imported into the country.
In an evening post on Truth Social, he wrote, “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.”
“Therefore, I am authorising the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” he adeed.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to the latest post, saying, “We are on it.”
A national security threat?
The Republican president not only claimed that the US film industry is “dying” but also blamed foreign countries for unfairly luring filmmakers away with incentives, calling it a threat to US national security.
He asserted, “Hollywood and many other areas within the U.S.A. are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
Meanwhile, as per movie industry research firm ProdPro, despite facing difficult times in the Covid-19 pandemic, the US remains major film production hub globally and saw $14.54bn (£10.94bn) of production spending in 2024, down by 26% since 2022.
