President Trump on Sunday announced movies as the latest target for tariffs because the U.S. movie industry “is DYING a very fast death.”
In a Truth Social post, the president said he’s authorizing the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to begin the process of imposing a 100% tariffs “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how the tariffs would be applied.
Mr. Trump said the incentives that other countries are offering filmmakers and studios constitute a national security threat.
“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” the president wrote. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Mr. Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe.
China, who has taken the brunt of the president’s combative trade policies with 145% tariffs on many goods, said last month it would reduce the number of U.S. films it imported.
There was also no mention in Trump’s social media post of television series — an increasingly popular and profitable sector of production for the screen.