Globalnews.ca: The United States will impose a 100 per cent tariff on movies made outside the country, along with foreign-made furniture, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday.
However, it is not immediately clear how such tariffs, particularly those on movies, could work or when they will come into force.
5 comments:
This dude sure does love his tariffs. This article honestly pisses me off because what do you mean you want to put tariffs on media? Like, stop trying to take away and mess with the entertainment industry. Between the late-night shows and PBS, and now the entirety of foreign films? This would also cause so many minor issues that would create a more complicated version of the tariff. There are just so many questions to be asked on top of the tariff. For example, would foreign movies already released be tariffed? I think it is so ironic how he is not only increasing grocery prices and trashing the economy, but now it is coming for movie prices as well. I just don't understand why he is worried about taxing movies and keeping films domestic when the government is literally shut down because it is out of money. I don't understand why he is trying to up the prices on non-domestic media because it is some of the most creative and interesting work that also for different perspectives and views of the world.
While I'm far from a supporter of Trump's administration, this in some regards is definitely a step in the right direction, of course his admin has cut school budgets causing art programs to get cut especially theater and film schools. But this is a step in the right direction, and maintaining union jobs in the United States is critical to keeping our workers employed. The more movies that are filmed here and the more theatre work that is done here, the more jobs opportunities that we have. A lot have taken this the wrong way, not understanding what these tariffs are supposed to do, and I think that we need to give this idea a chance. Of course a better alternative is government subsidies but clearly he isn't a fan of spending money on anything other than himself and those of the elite. Again not a huge fan of this administration but this is a step in the right direction. However we will always see how this plays out in the end.
I feel like of all the industries out there, film and entertainment are some of the most collaborative. So many different aspects come from so many different places around the world and the idea that tariffs are just a be all end all solution is naive. This article poses some really good questions in regards to how this can even be enforced. A while ago I got the chance to speak to Skydance’s vice president of visual effects and she pointed out a really interesting thing which is that lots of major cities around the world, especially places like London, offer tax breaks to film in their cities because it boosts local economies. On another note, isn’t it weird that a president is posting shit like this on social media? Like I cannot think of another president who has had access to the internet who uses fucking Truth Social to “inform” the public. It’s ridiculous, unprofessional, and it makes our country look stupid.
Tariffs are, when handled carefully, a valuable economic tool for assisting the economy by allowing local businesses to compete with foreign businesses. However this tool, despite being the economic equivalent of a scalpel, is increasingly being used as a club. Having a 100% tariff on foreign media will not change the fact that creating media in the US is increasingly becoming impossibly expensive. This increasing expense is in no small part due to the tariffs on almost every tool and piece of equipment needed for the film industry. In order for American media to thrive they need lower prices, not less competition. US films aren’t struggling to recoup expenses because Americans are deciding to watch films made outside the US instead, US films are struggling to recoup expenses because those expenses are higher than ever. Not to mention that depending on the implementation of this tariff it could still directly cost US films money. For example it’s unclear how it will be handled if a film primarily produced in the US has one or more scenes filmed outside the country, as is common for the movie industry. Would the tariff still be charged despite it being a primarily US film and if not where would the line be drawn.
Well I saw this coming. The lack of formality and over=whelming speed that Trump tweets out potential orders hurts everyone as they try to pre-react to something that may or may not pass. People are exasperated at Trump’s whims and his lack of care wears away at the trustworthiness of the United States government. It was not very high before but now with every whim we sink lower and lower as people bend over backwards to accommodate the wild mess of tweets and orders and rescinded tweets and orders. The lack of thought on these potential orders damages relationships that the United States has tried to foster with other governments. In the end though what he thinks will help the economy either sends it into chaos or ends up hurting the United states citizens. Even after IATSE’s statement trying to help the industry Trump will do whatever he thinks will draw the most attention.
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