Surprise and rejection: Hollywood opposes Trump's tariffs

Hollywood reacted with concern and surprise to President Donald Trump's announcement of a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the United States that premiere in the United States. The administration's policy aims to reverse the difficult times facing the domestic film industry, shaken by recent strikes and the exodus of filming to third countries with aggressive tax incentives, among other adverse factors, but it heralds far more problems than solutions for California's audiovisual industry.

The widespread impression is that Trump's plan will not only fail if implemented—something that, given the Republican's constant mood swings, remains a major unknown to this day—but that it will worsen the current situation, given the large number of small, medium, and large-budget projects being designed and filmed abroad.

"Putting a tariff on movies filmed outside the United States will increase the cost of filming. The consequence will be that studios will pressure exhibitors to raise ticket prices , which will cause audiences to stop going to the theaters, and then... well, you see where this is going," Randy Greenberg, producer of blockbuster titles like The Meg and Cowboys & Aliens , wrote on social media.

At the investment bank Morgan Stanley, analysts described Donald Trump's idea as "ill-defined" and explained that imposing 100% tariffs on some or all of the cost of an offshored Hollywood production "would lead to fewer films, more expensive films, and lower profits for everyone in the industry." It would go against an already established dynamic where almost everything, from the script to the production and editing, is done outside the United States because production costs are much more competitive. "The news has caused a lot of confusion," Álvar Carretero, producer and publicist at the firm Joshua Jason, told EL MUNDO. "Everyone is wondering what will happen and how these tariffs will be applied, since almost all of Hollywood's big blockbusters are made abroad . Even those of his friends [Trump], like Mel Gibson, who is filming the sequel to The Passion of the Christ in Italy," he added.

Many more questions than answers remain unanswered. It's unclear, for example, who will have to pay the taxes or under what circumstances . Will it be American distributors who buy foreign films to show in the United States? Or will it be foreign producers who want to screen their films in the country? And how will this adverse taxation affect the Oscars? It's abundantly clear that foreign films are increasingly gaining ground in the Academy Awards.

The announcement by the government of the People's Republic of China that it will cut the number of American films it will allow to premiere in its theaters following the tariff war launched by Washington a few weeks ago remains a looming issue. The prevailing climate in Hollywood is, to say the least, strange. Donald Trump indicated on Monday that his intention is to help the industry, not destroy it, but his goal of "bringing movies back to America" ​​seems increasingly complex.

The most recent numbers seem to be going in the opposite direction. In Hollywood, production of films, series, and commercials fell 22.4% in the first three months of the year, according to data from FilmLA. Tax incentive policies in countries like Colombia, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and France have become a nearly impossible competition for a market as expensive for filming as California, despite efforts by the Golden State's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, to attract more productions.

So far, the Trump-appointed team of special film ambassadors— Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson —has had little influence in reversing the situation. The president's promise to make Hollywood "bigger, better, and stronger than ever" is far from reality. The first quarter of 2025 closed with an 11% drop in box office receipts, according to Box Office Mojo. If it weren't for the surprising and life-saving phenomenon of A Minecraft Movie , with $873 million (€769 million) in worldwide revenue, the situation would be even more worrying. Trump's potential tariffs, without a defined plan or a specific date for their entry into force, only add uncertainty to the equation.