Trump’s 100% Foreign Film Tariff Sparks Industry Alarm

Through his Truth Social announcement President Trump declared his intention to impose complete tariffs on foreign-made films which he believes will save the “dying” U.S. movie industry from overseas incentives. The Commerce Department under Howard Lutnick must execute the plan but the implementation specifics remain unclear. The U.S. studios' productions of Deadpool & Wolverine and Wicked along with streaming content might experience negative impacts because they were filmed abroad.

The Bectu union in the UK predicted that freelancers would face a devastating impact from the proposed tariffs according to NPR's Eric Deggans who also warned about potential retaliatory tariffs that could reduce U.S. film profits worldwide. Vue cinema's Timothy Richards expressed doubts about how to define “U.S. films” because the UK maintains skilled crews and provides tax benefits. The production spending in the United States reached $14.54 billion in 2024 according to ProdPro data which showed a 26% decrease from 2022 levels.

The enforcement of Trump's tariffs becomes complicated because of filmmaking's complex global nature which threatens both economic and cultural consequences for Hollywood and its international partners including the 145% tariff on China.