Trump’s Film Tariffs Hurt Hollywood
Published in Der Standard
(Austria) on 5 May 2025
by Valerie Dirk (link to original)
Tariffs of 100% on foreign films and films shot overseas would be a fatal blow to the film industry and disenfranchise a cosmopolitan U.S. audience.
Shooting films in the U.S. is so expensive that some sectors of the film industry were recently protesting in the streets. Under the banner of not letting Hollywood become “the next Detroit,” they drew attention to the orphaned film city on the Pacific. Only three of this year’s 10 Oscar-nominated films were shot in the U.S.
The reason is the high taxes on movie shoots in the U.S. Large-scale productions migrate to locations like England, Hungary or Australia that beckon with tax incentives and picturesque landscapes.
Cultural Exchange
Donald Trump’s claim that the film capital of the U.S. is suffering is correct. But instead of creating domestic tax incentives for movie shoots, Trump continues his absurd tariff war as if ready for filming himself. He announced a tariff of 100% on foreign films or films produced overseas. With it, he will damage a cultural industry that for the last century has shaped global film culture like no other.
A basic pillar of Hollywood’s success story is cultural exchange. Protectionism and nationalism will hurt the industry, which is internationally well-connected in the streaming sector too, because, in contrast to China’s megamarket, the U.S. is dependent on a global audience. The Americans will pay for it in the long run.
And then there is the disenfranchisement of U.S. audiences that will be denied access to cosmopolitan films, which Trump describes as propaganda. That is equivalent to censorship and represents another step by Trump toward autocracy.
Shooting films in the U.S. is so expensive that some sectors of the film industry were recently protesting in the streets. Under the banner of not letting Hollywood become “the next Detroit,” they drew attention to the orphaned film city on the Pacific. Only three of this year’s 10 Oscar-nominated films were shot in the U.S.
The reason is the high taxes on movie shoots in the U.S. Large-scale productions migrate to locations like England, Hungary or Australia that beckon with tax incentives and picturesque landscapes.
Cultural Exchange
Donald Trump’s claim that the film capital of the U.S. is suffering is correct. But instead of creating domestic tax incentives for movie shoots, Trump continues his absurd tariff war as if ready for filming himself. He announced a tariff of 100% on foreign films or films produced overseas. With it, he will damage a cultural industry that for the last century has shaped global film culture like no other.
A basic pillar of Hollywood’s success story is cultural exchange. Protectionism and nationalism will hurt the industry, which is internationally well-connected in the streaming sector too, because, in contrast to China’s megamarket, the U.S. is dependent on a global audience. The Americans will pay for it in the long run.
And then there is the disenfranchisement of U.S. audiences that will be denied access to cosmopolitan films, which Trump describes as propaganda. That is equivalent to censorship and represents another step by Trump toward autocracy.
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