President Donald Trump opens a new Salvo in his introductory war, targeting films that were made outside the United States
On Sunday night on the social truth platform, Trump said he authorized the Ministry of Trade and the American Trade Representative Office to manufacture a 100 percent tariff “on any and all films coming to our country that is produced in foreign lands.”
He wrote, “The film industry in America is dying with a very fast death,” complaining that other countries “offer all types of incentives to draw” from filmmakers and studios away from the United States. “This is a concerted effort by other countries, thus threatening national security. In addition to everything else, correspondence and arrangement!”
It was not immediately clear how any such tariff could be implemented on international products. It is common for both large and small films to include production in the United States and in other countries. For example, films with large budget such as “Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning”, for example, are filmed all over the world.
For years, incentive programs have influenced where films are filmed, as films are increasingly leading from California and other states and other countries with favorable tax incentives, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
However, Trump’s tariff is designed to lead consumers towards American products. In cinemas, the films produced by the overwhelming America dominate the local market.
China has increased the production of its local films, and its climax in the “Ne Zha 2” animated collection, which amounted to more than two billion dollars this year. But until then, its sales were almost completely from China from the mainland. In North America, it got only $ 20.9 million.
In New Zealand, where successive governments have provided discords and incentives in recent years to attract Hollywood films to the country, the film industry has achieved billions of dollars from the tourist revenues led by “Lord of the Ringz” and “Hubbit” films, which included the country’s Vestyas. Recently, the large “Minecraft” movie was filled in New Zealand, and in 2023 US production of $ 1.3 billion from New Zealand ($ 777 million) to the country for $ 200 million from New Zealand in support, according to government figures.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he is waiting for more details about Trump’s measures before commenting on it, but will continue to show directors abroad, including in Indian Bollywood. “We have a completely global industry,” he said. “This is the best place to make films, the period, in the world.”
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The Motion Photo Association, which represents the main American film studios and broadcasting services, immediately did not respond to the messages on Sunday evening.
MPA data shows the amount of Hollywood export that has dominated the cinemas. According to MPA, American films produced $ 22.6 billion in exports and $ 15.3 billion of trade surplus in 2023.
Trump, a Republican, is satisfied with the “tariff man” sign that he presented himself years ago, as he slapped new taxes on the goods that were made in countries around the world. This includes a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods and a 10 percent foundation tariff for goods from other countries, with higher fees threatened.
Through the unilateral definitions, Trump has an unusual influence on the flow of trade, created political risks and withdraw the market in different directions. There is a tariff for cars, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, are scheduled to undergo new definitions in the coming weeks.
Trump has long expressed concern about the production of films abroad.
Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had taken advantage of the actors Mel Gibson, John Voett and Silster Stallone to be “private ambassadors” for Hollywood to return him “again – the biggest, best and stronger than ever!”
American films and television production has been disabled in recent years, with setbacks from the Covid-19 pandemic, Hollywood Syndicate’s strikes in 2023 and recent forest fires in the Los Angeles region. The total production in the United States decreased by 26 % last year compared to 2021, according to ProdPro data, which tracks production.
The annual survey of the group of executives, who asked about the favorite photography sites, did not find any site in the United States, where he achieved the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out in the foreground, as California ranked sixth, Georgia VII, New Jersey VIII and New York ninth.
The problem is especially sharp in California. In the Greater Los Angeles region, production last year decreased by 5.6 % from 2023, according to Filmla, second after 2020, during the peak of the Corona virus. Finally, October, the state governor, Gavin News, suggested a democratic, to expand the coin and television credit program in California to 750 million dollars annually, an increase of 330 million US dollars.
Other American cities such as Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to attract production films and television. These programs can take a cash grant form, as in Texas, or tax credits, provided by Georgia and New Mexico.
“The other countries were stealing the capabilities of filmmaking from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday evening after returning from the weekend in Florida. “If they are not ready to create a movie inside the United States, we must have a tariff for the films that come.”
–The Associated Press Gary Field in Washington and Charlotte Graham McLei in Witzton, New Zealand, contributed to this report from Washington.
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