President Donald Trump shared a Truth Social post Monday threatening 100% tariffs on foreign-produced films in an effort to make the film industry in the United States more America-centric.
The president first floated the idea in May when he shared another Truth Social post mentioning the issue, stating, “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
His most recent post mentioning a potential tariff includes a jab at California Gov. Gavin Newsom as well as a claim that the film business has been “stolen” from Americans. The president said California has been “particularly hard hit.”
Laura Isabel Serna, associate professor of history and cinema and media studies at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, expressed skepticism about the plausibility of a large-scale action like imposing an overarching tariff.
“This seems pretty hard to follow through because of the complexity of the global media industry,” Serna said. “So when we talk about Hollywood, we’re not just talking about films that are made in Hollywood – we’re talking about films that are co-produced with other nations, that might be shot on location in other places… That would be really hard to pull off.”
From an economic perspective, Serna does not think the tariff would be successful in bolstering the American film industry.
“This sort of tariff as a way of addressing what is going on in Hollywood seems to me a little bit heavy-handed and perhaps not as well-informed as one could be about the way that the industry works,” Serna said, explaining that when countries have taken similar actions in the past, “it hasn’t been particularly successful.”
Enoch Lai, a senior from Hong Kong majoring in cinema and media studies, also has his doubts when it comes to the effectiveness of the proposed tariff.
“If a filmmaker in the U.S. decides to make a film outside the U.S., I think there are just a lot of ways to do it where the authorities wouldn’t really notice or care,” Lai said. “So I just think it’s a really unfeasible thing to do.”
George Carstocea, an associate professor of cinematic arts at USC who grew up in post-communism Romania, worries that the tariff might be a starting point for the government to exercise further control of the media.
“It’s really scary to me, as someone who has seen how easily free speech gets chilled both in smaller environments, and, of course, when you’re faced with the power of the federal government, it’s way more intense than that,” Carstocea said. “...And this happens quite habitually in countries that have way less free markets, it’s not something new in the world. It is something relatively new in the United States.”
In light of recent Trump-era lawsuits challenging news outlets and public figures, Lai worries that the proposed tariff signifies “one out of many steps to change the American film industry” moving forward, he said.
“If this tariff thing does come through, I think the government will probably impose even more laws on filmmaking,” Lai said. “I just think it’s probably not going in a very good direction in terms of representation, or what kind of subject matter is allowed to be said in a film.”
With the suspension and return of Jimmy Kimmel’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! sending a clear message regarding the media’s right to offend, Carstocea believes the tariff is yet another attempt from the Trump administration to exercise authority over the film business, he said.
“Seeing direct attacks from the American government on comedians really tells you how bad it is already, how far down this path we are right now,” Carstocea said. “So everything that’s aimed at a cultural industry, to me, comes across as an attempt to control that cultural industry.”
Others worry the tariff may ultimately lead to a lack of diversity in the film landscape. Elizabeth Howlett, a senior theater major, emphasized the importance of a variety of viewpoints in film.
“Learning from an acting perspective, it’s so important to hear other people’s voices,” Howlett said. “I think Hollywood has a responsibility to share as many voices as they can… we’re just becoming more isolated and I think people just need to hear other people’s perspectives.”