The industry sees Trump's 100% tariffs on foreign films as absurd.

Social media is a paradise for someone like the president of the United States, who makes himself omnipresent. Donald Trump feels touched by the aura of divinity and is everywhere, capable of intervening in any facet of daily life, be it politics, justice, immigration, the economy, or leisure culture. Imbued with this celestial sense, he is eager to reshape society to his liking and in his own way. One of his latest ideas is to call the film industry a "threat to national security." He thus announced that he will impose 100% tariffs on films produced outside the United States.

According to his message on his platform, he has already instructed Jamieson Greer, the government trade representative, to begin the process of imposing these taxes on all films entering the country. "We want movies made in America again," he proclaimed in capital letters.

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Hollywood isn't exactly having a good time. Film and television productions in Los Angeles have plummeted by nearly 40% over the last decade, according to data from FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that tracks productions in the region.

The decline was exacerbated by the impact of the pandemic, which was followed by the screenwriters' and directors' strike, largely due to the threat posed by artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, governments around the world are repeatedly offering more generous tax credits and cash refunds to attract productions. These methods are intended to capture their share of the $248 billion business expected to be spent on content creation by 2025, according to Ampere Analysis.

The Motion Picture Association, the representative of the major studios in Washington, remained silent on the proposal. In its latest economic impact report, based on government data and published in 2023, the organization argued that the film industry generated a positive balance for the U.S. in each of the major markets around the world.

Producers emphasize the absurdity of shooting a film in the U.S. that takes place in another country.

Neither Trump nor his team, led by Commerce Secretary Howard Lunick, who enthusiastically embraced the suggestion, provided any clarification on how this measure will be implemented or what it would affect. It is unclear whether this rule applies to streaming services or those shown in theaters, or whether the calculation is based on production costs or box office receipts.

Trump's move has the potential, industry sources said, to disrupt and decimate a global business that relies on a network of international incentives and overseas locations.

Both low-budget indie films and multi-million-dollar blockbusters are being filmed in countries like the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Hungary, to name a few. For example, Mel Gibson, Trump's special ambassador to Hollywood (along with Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight), is planning to shoot the sequel to his film The Passion of the Christ in Italy. "This makes no sense at all," a producer from the United Kingdom, the country where the US president's idea provoked the most bitter reactions, remarked to Variety .

“This implies that an American film is meant to be shot in the United States. But the Harry Potter films, The Lord of the Rings , Schindler's List , Mission: Impossible , and Gladiator , among many other American films, are shot outside the U.S. for obvious reasons,” he added. “Will these films now have to be shot in the U.S.? It's an absurd announcement, devoid of sense and without any understanding of storytelling and the creative impulse,” he added.

Given the incentives in those other countries, several states, such as New York, a hub for filmmaking, and Georgia, offer generous film financing packages to compete with foreign offerings.

Trump's idea is disconcerting because it is not known how, when and to whom the tax will be applied.

The Motion Picture Association has long argued that the US needs federal incentives. Some use the carrot as an image to attract attention. Trump, however, showed more interest in the stick of tariffs, a word he considers one of the "nicest" in the dictionary.

It was reported in the industry that, once the announcement was made, Hollywood executives held meetings to try to understand what was coming.