Tariffs on Movies? More Questions Than Answers

This isn't the way someone who loves movies wants to wake up on a Monday morning before work. But, the headlines of Trump announcing a 100 percent tariff on movies made outside of the United States is all over my timelines today.

The Hollywood Reporter has their "Trump's 100 Percent Tariff on Movies: 8 Key Questions the Industry is Now Pondering and Dreading" up and I think it's the best article I've read that has most of the questions we're all asking.

As it's only been about five hours since I first read the headlines, I had yet to think about this part.

Trump’s initial social media missives only mentioned “movies,” but many in the industry assume any entertainment tariff would also apply to series production. That would be a huge blow to Netflix and other streamers — Amazon, Disney+, HBO Max — which have been built on a model of leveraging local production across a global subscriber base.Would Netflix have to pull Squid Game, Money Heist and The Crown from its U.S. service or face tariffs? And how would tariffs even be calculated for the streamers, which offer countless foreign-made titles to U.S. customers? How much of Netflix’s U.S. subscription revenue can be attributed to non-U.S.-produced shows?

Another question I wonder is how will this affect physical media and digital sales? The box office was my first question, but all movies get released after their theatrical run. Does a $20 movie now cost $40?

I have no confidence that Trump has any answers to any of these questions, but the movie industry that is already trying to rebound from COVID and the writer strikes is forced to deal with another obstacle.