Trump Calls Hollywood's Decline A 'National Security Threat,' Orders A 100% Tariff On Foreign Films

• President Donald Trump proposed a 100% tariff on foreign films on Monday
• The announcement, which was made on TruthSocial, came after a meeting with "special ambassador" to Hollywood Jon Voight
• Reactions from industry professionals have been mixed, as studios and executives are unsure how the tariffs would be imposed

President Donald Trump on Monday announced his intention to introduce a 100% tariff on foreign films.

"The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!," the Truth Social post said. 

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Trump has not detailed how that tariff would be imposed. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, movies are intellectual property, not goods. It's unclear whether they could be subject to the types of levies he's imposed on other material items. However, the U.S. Trade Representative has established guidelines for non-tariff trade barriers on some services that could be applied in this instance.

In recent years, many foreign locales have offered large tax breaks for studios to shoot movies and TV series outside Hollywood. A survey from ProdPro found that the top five preferred production locations by studio executives in 2025 through 2026 were all outside the U.S. In response, California's Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a massive tax credit in October that would bring film production back to Hollywood. 

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However, some veteran studio executives and producers told Reuters they had concerns about the proposed plan. 

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Producer Todd Garner raised questions about whether the tariffs would stifle creativity or lower production quality. "How would you make ‘Saving Private Ryan’ in the U.S.? In Shreveport? Or a globe-trotting ‘Mission: Impossible?,'” he said. 

Others see the plan in a different, more positive light. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the executive director of the SAG-AFTRA actors' union told Reuters, "We look forward to learning more about the specifics of the plan announced by the president and to advancing a dialogue to achieve our common goals."

Trump's decision to impose tariffs on foreign films came after a meeting on Monday with actor Jon Voight, one of the president's "special ambassadors" appointed to address Hollywood issues. Voight later posted a video about the meeting. Sitting in front of a U.S. flag, he said that he'd met with entertainment leaders who helped him come up with a set of tax provisions aimed at helping "movie and television production and our beloved theaters that are so important to the American family experience."

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