Tunde Sulaiman 
US President Donald Trump said he will hit movies made in foreign countries with 100 per cent tariffs, as he ramps up trade disputes with nations around the world.
Trump said he was authorising the US Department of Commerce and Trade Representative to start the process to impose the levy because America’s movie industry was dying “a very fast death”.
He blamed a “concerted effort” by other countries that offer incentives to attract filmmakers and studios, which he described as a “National Security threat”.
“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” But the details of the move are unclear.
Trump’s statement did not say whether the tariff would apply to American production companies producing films abroad, reports the BBC. Announcing the new tariffs, Trump declared that Hollywood was “dying”.
So is it? It’s true that the industry has been through a really rough time in recent years. The pandemic saw production close down and the impact is ongoing.
Hollywood studios spent $11.3 billion on productions in the second quarter of 2024, a 20% drop from the same period in 2022, as studios continued to cut costs in an attempt to recover from Covid losses.
Meanwhile, Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the infamous former prison on an island near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
In a message on his Truth Social site on Sunday, President Trump said that “for too long America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat criminal offenders”.
