US President Donald Trump and Doug Burgum, US secretary of the interior, right, in the Oval Office of the White House. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: President Donald Trump says he will meet with Hollywood executives after confounding the US film industry over his plan to impose a 100% tariff on movies made overseas.
“So we’re going to meet with the industry,” Trump said on Monday. “I want to make sure they’re happy with it, because we’re all about jobs.”
Film and entertainment figures on Monday struggled to interpret Trump’s directive, posted to his social media account on Sunday evening, which said the American movie industry is “dying” and cast foreign films as a national security threat that spread propaganda to US audiences.
“We want movies made in America, again!” Trump said.
Shares of Netflix Inc, Paramount Global, Warner Bros Discovery Inc and other media and entertainment companies slid as Wall Street and Hollywood tried to discern what aspect of filmmaking would qualify for such tariffs and why it should be targeted like other industries.
The US film and television industry produced US$22.6bil in exports and ran a US$15.3bil trade surplus, according to a 2023 Motion Picture Association report.
The industry generated a positive trade balance with every major market in the world, the report said.
Trump on Sunday ordered the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative to “immediately” begin work on the tariff process.
“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,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said on Monday.
The statement provided no specifics about how the import taxes would be crafted and implemented, or under what legal authority they would fall, should Trump decide to move forward.
The President’s assertion that foreign movies threaten national security suggests the administration may rely on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which gives the Commerce Department 270 days to investigate alleged dangers of certain imports. — Bloomberg
