President Donald Trump opens up a new salvo in his pricing war, because he threatened a 100% price on Sunday for films made outside the United States, saying that the American film industry died of a “very rapid death” because of the incentives that other countries offered to attract filmmakers.
“This is a concerted effort of other nations and, therefore, a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump said in an article on his social truth.
He said that he authorized the government agencies concerned, such as the Ministry of Commerce, to immediately start the process of imposing a 100% “rate” on all the films that enter our country which are produced at foreign land “.
“The film industry in America dies of a very rapid death,” he said, complaining that other countries “offer all kinds of incentives to draw” filmmakers and studios far from the United States
He added: “We want films made in America, again!”
Commerce secretary, Howard Lungick, said on the social media platform X: “We are there.”
Neither Trump nor Lutnick provided details on how the prices would be implemented. It was not clear if the prices would apply to films on streaming services as well as those displayed in theaters, or if they would be calculated according to production costs or box office income. Hollywood leaders were trying to settle the details on Sunday evening.
It is common that large and smaller films include production in the United States and other countries. Big budget films like the next “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”, for example, are shot in the world.
All major media companies, including Walt Disney, Netflix and Universal Pictures, films abroad in countries like Canada and Great Britain.
Leaders in Australia and New Zealand responded to Trump's pricing announcement on Monday saying that they would argue for their local industries. Some Marvel superhero films were shot in Australia, while New Zealand was the backdrop of the films “The Lord of the Rings”.
The incitement programs for years have influenced where films are shot, increasingly stimulating the production of films in California and other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
However, prices are designed to lead consumers to American products. And in the cinemas, American product films dominate the internal market.
China has intensified its production of national films, culminating in the animated blockbuster “more than 2 billion dollars this year. But even then, his sales came almost entirely from continental China. In North America, he only earned $ 20.9 million.
'Much more to lose than to win'
MPA data shows how Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, American films produced $ 22.6 billion in exports and $ 15.3 billion in commercial surplus in 2023.
Trump made its doors on the “Tariff Man” label that he gave himself years ago, hitting new taxes on the goods made in the countries of the world. This includes a 145% tariff on Chinese products and a 10% reference rate on goods from other countries, with even higher samples.
By imposing prices unilaterally, Trump has exerted an extraordinary influence on the trade flow, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are prices on cars, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, which could be subject to new prices in the coming weeks.
Trump has long expressed his concern about the production of films abroad.
Shortly before taking office, he announced that he had hit the actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as special ambassadors to Hollywood to bring him back “better and stronger than ever!”
The production of American cinema and television has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks of the Pandemic of Covid-19, the Hollywood Guild strikes from 2023 and the recent forest fires in the Los Angeles region. In the United States, overall production fell by 26% compared to 2021, according to ProdPro data, which follows production.
The annual group's annual survey of managers, who asked questions about the favorite filming locations, found no location in the United States, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia have come out in the lead, California placing sixth, Georgia Seventh, New Jersey Eighth and New York Ninth.
The problem is particularly acute in California. In the Grand Los Angeles region, production from last year dropped by 5.6% compared to 2023, according to Filmla, just for 2020, during the top of the pandemic. Last October, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed to extend the California cinema and television credit program to $ 750 million per year, compared to $ 330 million.
Other American cities such as Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to attract cinematographic and televised productions. These programs can take the form of cash grants, such as Texas or Tax Credit, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.
In 2023, around half of American producers' expenses on film and television projects with budgets of more than $ 40 million was outside the United States, according to the ProdPro research firm.
Films and television production has dropped almost 40% over the past decade in the hometown of Hollywood in Los Angeles, according to Filmla.
“Other nations have stolen the capacities for the realization of films in the United States,” Trump told the journalists at the White House on Sunday evening after his return from a weekend in Florida. “If they are not willing to make a film in the United States, we should have a price on the films that enter.”
Former senior trade manager William Reinsch, a senior member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the reprisals against Trump's film prices would be devastating.
“Reprisals will kill our industry. We have much more to lose than to win,” he said, adding that it would be difficult to make a case of national security or national emergency for films.
