The federal government has vowed to fight a proposed 100% tariff on Australian-made films after the US president, Donald Trump, posted on his social media platform that he planned to go ahead with the huge levy “on any and all movies made outside the United States”.
Industry experts have described the proposal as bizarre and virtually impossible to enforce, given the global nature of film, with production, financing and post-production often spread across several countries.
The arts minister, Tony Burke, said on Tuesday the government was working with Screen Australia, its lead agency for supporting the development, production and promotion of Australian screen content, and monitoring the situation in the US closely.
“Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry,” Burke said.
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Screen Producers Australia (SPA) said Trump’s announcement raised more questions than answers for the global screen industry.
“Fundamental issues remain unresolved as to what in practice this means and how this can be applied,” said the SPA chief executive, Matthew Deaner, who pointed out that Australia’s screen sector was deeply intertwined with US productions through location shoots, financing and creative collaboration.
Dr Ben Eltham, a media and communications academic at Monash University and the co-founder of the campaign coalition Save Our Arts, described the Trump tariff as “bizarre”.
“Nobody knows how this would work,” he said, noting that films are typically classified as intellectual property and part of the global services trade, an area where the US usually runs a surplus.
“It’s a service, not a good. Movies are distributed digitally, streamed online, edited across borders. What counts as foreign-made? The average Hollywood film today is shot in five countries, with post-production scattered globally.”
The Queensland University of Technology media academic Prof Amanda Lotz said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump had been using to impose tariffs on other countries, currently exempted informational materials.
“So some have argued that those amendments would keep the government from being able to [impose tariffs] on the industry, but this is assuming that we’re in normal times, in which the power of law and rule of law are still actually operating.”
Trump’s announcement, made via his Truth Social platform, has sent shock waves through the global entertainment industry. He claimed that US moviemaking was being “stolen” by other countries, likening it to “stealing candy from a baby”.
The legal basis for such a sweeping tariff, which he first floated in May, remains unclear and he has not clarified how the policy would be implemented.
Both Deaner and Eltham said the message from the White House highlighted Australia’s vulnerability in the absence of streaming investment safeguards.
The Labor government promised to impose mandatory local content quotas on multinational streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Disney+, by mid 2024, but legislation stalled due to concerns over Australia’s obligations under its free trade agreement with the US and deepened uncertainty under the second Trump administration.
“While Australia isn’t as exposed as some other countries, it’s vital we diversify our industry through a broader range of international partnerships and expanded co-production arrangements,” Deaner said.
“Local content rules for streaming platforms, strengthened funding for the ABC, SBS and Screen Australia, and reforms to our tax offset system are essential to ensure Australian stories continue to thrive, regardless of international trade turbulence.”
Eltham said the tariff threat was a timely reminder that there had never been a level playing field when it came to trade in culture.
“It’s always been political, because culture is political,” he said.
“To pretend that just because we’ve got a free trade agreement with the Americans means that somehow they will play by the rules is laughable.”
