Some of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment companies saw their stock prices dip Monday — hours after President Trump floated a shocking 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the US.
In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump said he had authorized the Commerce Department and US Trade Representative to begin instituting the tariffs, framing the measure as a national security issue, but issued few details on just how such a levy would work.
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote Sunday.
“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, responding to Trump’s directive, posted on X: “We’re on it.”
He offered no further details.
On Monday, the White House said it has not yet made any final decisions on foreign film tariffs.
“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Post.
Shares of Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount had each dropped more than 2% after the opening bell before paring back some losses by the afternoon.
Industry executives said they were caught by surprise by Trump’s latest tariff threat.
“Nobody saw this coming,” one senior studio executive told the Wall Street Journal.
“There was no heads-up, no draft language, nothing. Just a Truth Social post and chaos.”
The proposed tariff targets films made outside the US by American studios — a common practice driven by generous foreign tax incentives and production infrastructure in countries like the UK and Canada.
Trump took aim at these policies in his post, labeling them “a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.”
But experts warn that applying tariffs to movies poses significant logistical and legal hurdles.
Unlike manufactured goods, films are not shipped across borders in a way that allows for traditional customs enforcement.
Determining how to “value” a movie for tariff purposes and defining what qualifies as an “imported” film would require a novel — and likely controversial — framework.
“This isn’t like taxing steel,” one international trade attorney familiar with entertainment law told the Journal.
“You’re talking about intangible products, shared intellectual property, and global distribution models. It’s not clear how this would even work.”
A spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has proposed boosting tax incentives to entice Hollywood studios to locate their production sets in the Golden State, told Deadline that the president has “no authority” to impose tariffs on films.
The announcement arrives at a fragile moment for Hollywood. Domestic film production has struggled to recover post-pandemic, and studios have increasingly relied on foreign locations to cut costs.
According to industry data firm ProdPro, US film and television production with budgets over $40 million dropped 26% over the past two years. In contrast, spending in Canada and the UK rose.
London has emerged as a premier destination for American blockbusters, offering robust tax breaks and top-tier facilities.
Two upcoming Marvel Studios “Avengers” films are being shot there, while major franchises like “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” and “Jurassic World Rebirth” were also largely filmed abroad.
Should other nations retaliate with their own levies on American-made content, the financial blow to studios could be severe.
Big-budget films now derive the bulk of their box office revenue from international markets.
The US film industry posted a $15.3 billion trade surplus in 2023, according to the Motion Picture Association, with positive balances in every major overseas market.
“This could backfire spectacularly,” said a veteran producer.
“If we’re hit with reciprocal tariffs, the economics of international film distribution collapse overnight.”
Despite the backlash, Trump appears committed to his aggressive stance.
In January, he appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, claiming they would help reverse the industry’s shift abroad.
“These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest,” Trump said at the time.
