Hollywood Studios Silent as Trump Promises to Meet on Film Tariffs

A day after rattling Hollywood with a Truth Social post promising a 100% tariff on films produced outside the United States, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he wished to meet with entertainment industry leaders about bringing jobs and productions back from overseas shooting hubs, all while those leaders are staying silent about his plans.

“I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I want to help the industry,” Trump said, though he offered no details on who would be invited to such talks or when they would take place.

Meanwhile, Hollywood studios have chosen not to respond at all to Trump’s comments on the state of their business. Washington’s top entertainment industry lobbying group, the Motion Picture Association, declined TheWrap’s request for comment on the president’s proposed film tariffs. All of MPA’s member studios, including Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. and Paramount, also declined to comment.

This past January, an annual survey and study by analytics company ProdPro found that while the United States remains the top production hub in the world with $14.5 billion in committed film/TV production spending in 2024, that total was down 26% from 2022.

Studios have sent major productions like Disney/Marvel Studios’ upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday” to other countries like the United Kingdom, where generous tax incentive packages have made blockbuster filmmaking more feasible amidst rising costs. In a survey of producers, ProdPro found that no American states were listed among their top five preferred production hubs, opting instead for soundstages in the U.K., Canada, Australia and Central Europe.

On Sunday night, Trump declared that the “Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death” and cited the incentives that are changing the global film industry.

“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” Trump wrote.

By Monday morning, the White House had somewhat walked back Trump’s declaration.

“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

Agents and producers who spoke to TheWrap on Monday said they are skeptical that any plans on tariffs would actually move forward, with one agent saying that he did not expect any studio or union to respond to Trump until there is a definition on what a “foreign production” is.

While some countries like the United Kingdom offer additional tax credits for productions that do both filming and post-production work in Britain, many American blockbusters shot overseas still do key post-production work like film scoring, sound mixing and film editing in the United States.

There is also the possibility that a Trump-mandated tariff on film productions would be illegal due to amendments made to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 first authored by Hollywood-based California Congressman Howard Berman in 1988.

While the IEEPA gives the president powers to declare a national emergency and regulate international commerce against countries that have “engaged in such hostilities or attacks against the United States,” the Berman Amendment explicitly prevents the president from unilaterally regulating the import or export of “information and informational materials,” which include movies and TV shows.

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