Desk:US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he ordered his officials to impose a 100% tariff on films produced overseas, further escalating his trade war. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the movie industry in the US 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 USA, are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” he said.
“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,” Trump added.
It was not immediately clear how such a tariff would work.
His move comes nearly a month after China said it would “moderately reduce” the number of US films it imported into the country, amid a standoff between the world’s two largest economies.
“The wrong action of the US government’s indiscriminate tariffs on China is bound to further reduce the favourable impression of domestic audiences on American films,” a statement from China’s film administration said on April 10 after Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent.