White House: 'No final decisions' on foreign film tariffs

The White House on Monday said no final decisions have been made about tariffs on foreign firms, after President Trump a day prior called for a 100 percent tariff on movies produced in other countries.

“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,” spokesperson Kush Desai told The Hill when asked how a tariff on intellectual property would be implemented.

The president later on Monday said that he would be meeting with leaders in the film industry to discuss his idea for tariffs.

“We’re going to meet with the industry, I want to make sure they’re happy with it because we’re all about jobs,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s a big industry but it’s an industry now, it’s really left, it’s abandoned the USA. Where it started. And we’ll get it back.”

He said he is aiming to help the industry with his tariffs and bashed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for films being made overseas instead of in Hollywood.

“Our film industry has been decimated by other countries, taking them out, and also by incompetence, like in Los Angeles the governor is a grossly incompetent man. He’s just allowed it to be taken away from Hollywood,” Trump said.

On Truth Social on Sunday, he had said there’s “a concerted effort” by other countries to lure filmmakers abroad, which he called a threat to national security, arguing that the movie industry in the U.S. is “dying a very fast death.”

The president said he would authorize the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to begin the process to impose a 100 percent tariff “immediately,” but the move is all but certain to face legal challenges from the industry, including on free speech grounds.

Trump has imposed a 145 percent on China and 10 percent tariff on all trading partners while his administration negotiates deals with foreign countries during a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs set to expire in July.

The president has threatened industry-specific tariffs on other goods and in the case of imported automobiles and auto parts, he signed an executive order last week to scale back his 25 percent tariffs.

His use of tariffs overall has shaken global markets and led to the U.S. experiencing its first quarter of negative economic growth in years.

—Updated at 2:07 p.m. EDT