Scary Movie ’25? Trump Threatens Tariffs on Foreign Films
President Trump wants to bring film-making back to Hollywood by imposing 100% tariffs on movies produced outside of the US.
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“A Minecraft Movie” may take place in Idaho, but it was filmed in New Zealand. That’s because it makes more financial sense to create a fake potato-chip factory in a country where international films get a 25% rebate.
President Trump wants to bring film-making back to Hollywood by imposing 100% tariffs on movies produced outside of the US, which he said represent a national security threat. Trump said he’s already greenlit preparation of his latest plan by the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative. Back in January, he called on Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight to be special ambassadors charged with luring business to Los Angeles.
Starring Canada as California
The shares of major media companies including Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery dipped on the tariff news. Many of the biggest box office hits, including the latest “Jurassic Park” and “Mission Impossible” movies, are shot mostly outside of the US.
Countries like the UK and Canada have become hotspots for film-making because of government incentives and lower labor costs, while the US (and especially Los Angeles) have been losing days on set.
- Spending on big-budget film and TV productions in the US plunged 26% from 2022 to last year, according to ProdPro, while budgets rose in the UK and Canada. IATSE, the union for entertainment workers from cinematographers to costume designers, found that the US film industry eliminated 18,000 full-time jobs in the past three years, mainly in California.
- Meanwhile, international content is climbing the “Most Watched” lists as viewers binge K-dramas. For the first time, Netflix is expected to spend more than half its content budget on international projects this year, according to Ampere Analysis.
Besides content that clearly has international origins, many big-budget productions (like Marvel movies or “The White Lotus”) span several countries. It’s unclear what criteria would land a film on Trump’s tariff list.
Hollywood not so forever. Hollywood film and TV workers held a rally last month demanding California legislators help “Make Hollywood Hollywood Again.” Tinseltown has struggled to scale production back up after strikes by writers and actors in 2023. But rather than punish international content, the state is trying to incentivize production at home. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed for legislation that would more than double tax credits for film- and TV-making in the Golden State.
