President Donald Trump threw yet another hand-handed bullet into the economy. This time, in the form of a true social evening post about imposing a 100% tariff on films produced overseas. It seems strange to declare “the American film industry is losing very fast,” suggesting a so-called defense that causes stock prices to fall by 3-5%.
The stocks have been normalised, but the entertainment industry is still trying to understand everything, especially as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick showed he is working on policy. This customs business is becoming unmanageable.
It is unclear why it sparked Trump's declaration of the need to save Hollywood from financial ruin, but it was a complete display of the administration's slapdash nationalism. Trump compiled foreign tax incentives aimed at eliciting American filmmaking as a “national security threat,” confusing two separate issues conservatives have long been working on in Hollywood.
The first is China's role in steering the message, image and market considerations of US film productions. The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated its well-known influence through investment companies such as Alibaba Pictures and Wanda Group, funding US film productions and helping Hollywood films pave the way for them to perform in China.
Chinese censorship, working with Hollywood studios, is pushing for changes to the script, including removing mention of Tibetan monks from Marvel Dr. Strange And even minimizing the presence of black actors in film marketing materials like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. An incident occurred Top Gun Franchise, Barbie, Spidermanand remakes of Red dawnclaimed that the CCP portrayed North Korea as a villain instead of China.
As if North Korea could stop the US invasion of land. But that's how China's influence works. China is actively lobbying to make sure everyone, except for itself, is the bad guy of American films. The importance of this as a geopolitical strategy cannot be overstated. Hostile foreign powers are a national security threat to guide our entertainment.
Instead of targeting China's censorship along the lines of the Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) script law, Trump appears to be trying to allow California and its Democratic governors. Gavin News is off the hook to destroy Hollywood.
That's the second issue Trump has confused by playing around about the decline of Hollywood.
Actors Adam Scott and Rob Lowe are famous. Parks and recreationSiriusXM has been hampered by California's incredibly dense union regulations and taxes on how US filmmaking has been promoted overseas.
Lowe gave a terrible reputation for governance in California, saying, “Take 100 Americans to Ireland isn't talking about unions, even past the soundstage, than roaming lots at Fox. It's just taxes, economics.
This should be Trump's message. Newsmu, his democratic rival and challenger to Vice President J.D. Vance in 2028, helped destroy the American entertainment capital, and even liberal Hollywood actors know that.
Instead, Trump attacks foreign countries that allowed Lowe's game shows to offer their own productions.
This week was semiStar Wars It's worth remembering that on a holiday, and that George Lucas shot the original 1976 production Star Wars A film to Pinewood Studios in the UK. He was trying to distance himself from Hollywood executives, whom he hated so much, and save money from overseas production. Star Wars It exists only because a rebellious young manager could abandon California, not to mention all the union regulations they would want to avoid by working with the British set crew.
In the age of streaming, it is very unclear how the US will implement tariffs on films produced abroad. You can also do customs on DVD boxes, but that doesn't work with digital assets.
Trump's foreign film tariff move comes after Rob Lowe warned about the “crime” costs of filming in California
With 75% of Netflix productions being made overseas, it could explain the overabundance of content related to the world's most successful streaming operations. Is Trump going to copy and paste his “two dolls” suggestions to streaming content consumers? Magazine is quickly trapped in the idea of rarity and is openly hostile to market conditions that allow more consumers to choose.
Whether it's a cost savings or unique location like Bolivian salt flats, Icelandic glaciers, or Tunisian deserts, the idea of filming a film abroad is somehow offensive. Given what Lowe said about his game show's overseas production, what is more patriotic than filming in Ireland to promote Newsom's tax system in California?
Stephen Kent is the media director at Consumer Choice Center. Follow him @stephenkentx.
