The last few years have been a difficult time for the film industry.  A worldwide pandemic that forced the closure of film theaters and projects; a historic writers' and actors' guild strike; and fires that decimated areas of Los Angeles.  Hollywood is now about to enter yet another tense time of uncertainty:  Donald trump revealed a planned 100% tariff on foreign-produced films on sunday through his Truth Social account. 

I found it difficult to envision this tariff because trump provided no explanation of how it would operate.  Movies aren't quite like the imports that are often subject to tariffs; they arrive in the nation in predetermined quantities at predetermined prices, which can subsequently be subject to taxes.  Who would be liable for paying the tariff, and when would it be imposed?  Would the entire budget be used?  The cost of the ticket?  Can any of this even happen? 

Everyone seemed to be asking the same questions during the announcement's media coverage.  In order to try to acquire some answers, we contacted an economist.  Political economist and scholar Mark Blyth is presently Brown University's William R. Rhodes professor of international Economics and professor of international and Public Affairs.  He has previously discussed tariffs, written on Trumpism, and is a co-author of the book Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers, which comes out this month.  He was the one who could give me a better idea of what this new tariff might entail. 

He said, "It's totally insane. Yeah, you're right, it's completely nuts, right? What's the end product? Is it a cinema ticket? So, you're going to have movies whereby you spend $20 to a attend the movie theater, but $40 if you want to see this movie. Right? That's never going to happen."

He further added, "Well, I mean, that would be one possible way of doing it, but I think the broader point is, this is completely unhinged. I mean, this is taking tariff frenzy to a new level. Because ultimately, if you think about it, films aren't really goods that you consume. It's not like a car that comes from germany and you can slap a tariff on it, right?

It's more sort of like a piece of intellectual property that you get to share for two hours in exchange for a ticket. So, how do you actually tariff that?

I literally don't know how you would do this. I mean, let's imagine you've made a film, and now you want to release it in the United States. The point of importation for that film would be when it is digitally uploaded to servers and movie theaters, and then you press play. Other than that, what could you do? You could look at the firm, you could tax the firm more, but that's more of a sort of a tax rather than a tariff per se, because it's not on the good, it's on the company. I mean, I just literally don't know how you would do this."
For more interesting updates wa click and follow Indiaherald WhatsApp channel

Find out more:

G GOWTHAM

06/05/2025 11:04 AM