The White House is already walking back Donald Trump’s Sunday night Truth Social proposal to put a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made films. Hollywood, meanwhile, is likely hoping he changes course completely, despite agreeing with the president’s overall goal of shoring up shrinking U.S. film production.
After Trump announced his plan, which officials later said had not been finalized, many in the U.S. film industry and beyond condemned the idea, arguing it could be difficult to enforce given the international nature of modern film and TV business models. In addition, the extra levies could deliver a “knock-out blow” to an industry just recovering from the Covid pandemic.
Film and TV heavyweights accused the president of misunderstanding the business. Succession star Brian Cox told Times Radio that Trump is “not really understanding the point of view of how films are made, and what films cost, [how] the cost of films [has] gone up and that the cost of films in America went up considerably.”
Instead, many in the business are hoping Trump pursues the kind of generous federal tax incentives seen in other film hubs like the UK and Canada, whose prime minister Mark Carney was visiting the White House on Tuesday.
“I actually agree with the goal here, as I think many U.S. film execs would,” a film financier told Deadline after the tariff proposal dropped. “It’s crazy how much production has moved overseas due to the absence of rebates here. But obviously the need is for rebates, not tariffs. Tariffs will just choke the remaining life out of the business. Volume would drop to a historic low.”
“The United States needs a balanced federal response to return film and television jobs,” Matthew D. Loeb, the president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents much of Hollywood’s behind-the-scenes talent, said in a statement. “IATSE recommended that the Trump administration implement a federal film production tax incentive and other domestic tax provisions to level the playing field for American workers.”
Actor Jon Voight, one of Trump’s three “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, reportedly met with the president over the weekend to discuss the film industry.
The actor submitted a “comprehensive plan,” including “federal tax incentives, significant changes to several tax codes, the establishment of co-production treaties with foreign countries, and infrastructure subsidies for theater owners, film and television production companies, and post-production companies,” according to his manager Steven Paul.
“The proposal also includes a focus on job training, and tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” Paul’s company SP Global Media said in a statement to CNBC.
A smaller contingent, including the Teamsters union, celebrated the tariff idea, calling it a “strong step” toward “reining in the studios’ un-American addiction to outsourcing our members’ work.”
Solutions will be sorely needed to revive the golden days of Hollywood.
Los Angeles-area film, TV, and commercial on-location production days fell by 22.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared with 2024, according to FilmLA.
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