Donald Trump to meet with U.S. movie industry after announcing 100% tariffs on foreign-made films

Donald Trump has said he will speak to filmmakers to "make sure they're happy", after he revealed plans to impose 100% tariffs on films made outside of the U.S.

The American president said on Sunday that his nation's film industry is dying a "very fast death" due to competition from abroad.

"This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda," he wrote on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

According to researchers at ProdPro, about half of spending on film and TV projects with budgets of more than $40 million went outside the U.S. Furthermore, film and TV production has dropped by nearly 40% over the last decade in Los Angeles, according to FilmLA.

Still, the United States is a major film production hub, with ProdPro reporting that the country had $14.54b (€12.94b) of production spending last year.

Trump's plans have raised concerns in film industries worldwide, including Ireland, with co-CEO of Element Films Ed Guiney describing the potential tariffs as "very, very damaging."

“Honestly, we're all scratching our heads," he said, speaking on Morning Ireland. "I mean, it was very disconcerting to wake up to that bombshell yesterday morning. And actually, I suppose since then, as with, as is often the case with Trump, things have moderated and changed. And now the White House are making more, I won't say positive, but they're kind of qualifying the statement, I suppose.

“But it's really hard to understand how a tariff would be imposed because so much of the activity that happens in the world is actually owned by American studios. These things are services, they're not products in the way that you know you traditionally imagine tariffs being imposed on a product.

“So there is an awful lot of head-scratching. I think behind it, there is definitely an anxiety in the States in that there is a lot of what they call runaway production. In other words, American film and television production that shoots all around the world. And actually, we benefit from it hugely here in Ireland.

“As is well known, we have an amazing crew base here and we've very decent incentives and a very buoyant industry. And same with the UK and Canada. But I think there is a feeling that a lot of American stuff should be shooting in the US, but actually that's largely down to the cost base in the States, which is very high, and also the incentives. And there are incentives in some of the states of America.

"So I think the other thing that's emerging in this is a conversation around whether there should be a federal tax incentive in America to keep American production at home."