Trump walks back his idea for film tariffs amid mass confusion

The White House already appears to be walking back Donald Trump’s plan to place 100% tariffs on films made outside the United States.

The president, who received a Razzie award for his role in the widely panned 1990 rom-com “Ghosts Can’t Do It,” isn’t known for high-minded musings on the state of cinema. But in a rant posted to his social media account on Sunday, Trump declared that the tariffs would be necessary to save the country’s film industry.

The announcement was met with a mix of confusion and concern, and a White House official said Monday that it’s not a done deal.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “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.”

Along with that, Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday that “we’re going to meet with the industry” to discuss the plan and “make sure they’re happy with it, because we’re all about jobs.”

In a separate report, The Hollywood Reporter highlighted several unanswered questions — such as whether the tariffs would be applied retroactively to films that have already been produced; whether they would be applied to streaming platforms that produce series, like Netflix; whether and how foreign nations might retaliate; and whether tariffs would actually bring more film production back to the U.S.

On that last point, The Hollywood Reporter seems to think it’s unlikely:

The main reason the studios and independents go abroad to shoot is money. Making a film in the U.S., which lacks federal tax incentives of the sort found in the U.K., Europe or Australia, can be 30 to 40 percent more expensive. Add to that the cost of U.S. crews, which are pricier than their international counterparts — thanks in part to the strength of American film and TV unions — and it’s unclear whether a tariff would be enough to bring production back home.

To bring film production back to the U.S., encouraging Congress to pass a law with federal incentives for film studios seems like a far less disruptive and destructive option, especially considering that such tariffs aren’t guaranteed to bring production stateside. All of this raises the question of whether Trump is merely floating tariffs on the film industry to force its executives to plead with him for tariff exemptions — much like executives in other industries have done.