It’s 2025 and tariffs are the word. In his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, and a 10 percent baseline tariff on most countries.
He has also placed tariffs on steel and aluminum, cars, smartphones, computers, and most recently, a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made films.
“The movie industry in America is dying a very fast death…This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Counterintelligence and economic espionage are national security threats, not foreign-made films. But don’t take our word for it.
Movies are listed as an exception to presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the authority to address national security threats.
Trump was right about one thing, though. The film industry in the United States, specifically Los Angeles, California, is dying.
Movie shoot days in Los Angeles dropped from just over 3,900 in 2019 to a little over 2,400 in 2024, marking an almost 40 percent decrease.
Between January and March 2025, on-production shoot days declined by over 22 percent. The cause of America’s film industry woes comes from outside the country, according to Trump.
“Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas with the U.S.A., are being devastated,” wrote Trump.
American filmmakers aren’t being lured away from the United States by the corrupt hand of foreign influence. They are choosing to make films where it is most affordable.
“…is LA going to be able to compete with Eastern Europe? We have the best people in the world here but often producers find themselves shopping for the best price. If LA wants to remain a hub of production, they’re going to have to have some form of tax incentives to compete with them,” American screenwriter David Scarpa told The Guardian.
Tariffs Aren’t the Answer
Placing a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made films instead of offering competitive incentives will harm Americans more than it helps them.
“At the end of the day, tariffs are not the way to address this problem. That will only result in less being made, giving us fewer options as consumers in terms of what we see. It would decimate the independent film market,” Jeff Most, a writer, producer, director, and financier, told The Guardian.
Trump’s proposed tariff could mean more than just increased production costs for producers. It could also mean increased ticket prices for consumers.
It won’t just be the American film industry paying the price for his tariffs. Industries around the world will feel the effects, including in Canada.
Toronto employs 30,000 people on average, many of which helped produce popular American films such as “The Shape of Water,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “American Psycho,” and many more.
A film tariff could cause serious damage to the film industry in Toronto and other popular filming locations like Calgary.
Like Toronto, Calgary’s film industry supports thousands of jobs and generates millions of dollars for the economy.
To give an example, the first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” was mostly shot in Alberta and generated over $141 million for the province.
“It’s actually quite distressing. We’ve worked hard to attract film and television to Calgary. We were named one of the best places to make films…,” Deborah Yedlin, Calgary Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, told CTV News.
Millions of dollars and thousands of jobs are at stake if Trump imposes a tariff on foreign-made films.
Instead of shifting the blame yet again, Trump should be addressing the problems in his own backyard, including uncompetitive tax incentives for filmmakers.
