Films produced 'in foreign lands' the latest Trump tariff target

Another day another new tariff proposal, with President Trump's latest idea to protect American industry being a 100% tariff on “any and all” movies produced in “foreign lands.”Here we go again.

Honestly, we'd like to stop writing about trade tariffs. But for that to happen they would stop having to be fired off by President Trump on Truth Social at all hours of the day or night, especially when they directly affect our industry so much.

This is the latest one;  Trump "authorizing 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 finished with the traditional caps lock flourish.

So <deep breath> there's rather a lot to talk about here, not the least of which is describing foreign films as "a national security threat". Presumably that's a formula to enable him to sign an executive order on the matter rather than, y'know, go the traditional way of running things through government, due process, and all that sort of wokery.

According to Variety, this has kicked off rather a panic in Hollywood as no one knows precisely what it encompasses and the Cannes Film Festival starts in a week. The amount of deals done at the Festival is normally off the scale, but this introduces a hugely unwelcome note of uncertainty. Questions to be ironed out start with:

• Does this include US-produced movies that shoot abroad, and if so, what percentage of the movie counts?
• Are films already underway exempt from the process?
• Does it apply to wholly foreign films or just ones with US backing?
• Where is the tariff going to be collected? At the box office by theatres themselves? On the tax breaks granted by foreign countries? 
• Why films and not television. Is that next on the tariff roulette wheel?
• Will it even actually happen?

Trump, of course, has previous in this field. "How bad were the Academy Awards this year, did you see? ‘And the winner is … a movie from South Korea',” he said of Parasite in 2020. “What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade, on top of it they give them the best movie of the year?”

He also named the triumvirate of Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight to be his special ambassadors to the US film industry back in January, though you would be hard pushed to find anything of consequence they've said or done since. That might soon be about to change.

In 2020, after disparaging Parasite, he went on to say that he wished they'd bring back old movies such as Gone with the Wind. Hollywood will be hoping that its chances of continuing its current rebound (box office up 15.8% ahead of 2024) aren't about to head the same way.

tl;dr

• President Trump has proposed a 100% tariff on all movies produced in foreign countries, citing a desire to protect American industry and encourage films made in America.
• The announcement has caused panic in Hollywood, with many uncertainties surrounding its implications, particularly with the Cannes Film Festival approaching.
• Questions arise about the scope of the tariff, such as whether it includes US-produced films shot abroad, if films already in production are exempt, and how and where the tariffs will be collected.
• Trump has previously criticized foreign films, specifically mentioning "Parasite" and has appointed Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, and Jon Voight as representatives for the US film industry, although their impact has yet to be seen.