Trump poses tariff on foreign-made movies

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he authorized the U.S. Department of Commerce on Sunday to implement a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the United States. America’s film industry is dying fast, and locales across the nation are being devastated, he wrote. Foreign nations are threatening national security by offering incentives that pull filmmakers out of the United States, Trump added. He also described film production moving abroad as messaging and propaganda.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to the directive Sunday night, saying that his department was on it. Other nations have stolen America’s movie industry, Trump told the media outside the White House on Sunday. If studios aren’t willing to make movies here, then their movies will have a stiff price to enter the country, Trump added. The president also blamed California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom for the demise of Hollywood, calling him grossly incompetent.

Trump addressed the pending tariff again during a Monday Oval Office news conference, saying he planned to meet with industry leaders to make sure they approve the measure. The tariff isn't meant to harm the industry, it's meant to create jobs, he said. The president did not clarify whether the proposed tariff would apply only to foreign production companies, or to any motion picture filmed outside the United States.

How are people responding?

• Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa described Trump’s movie tariff as reckless and insisted it would backfire. The government needs to give tax breaks and incentives to keep films in California, he wrote in a Monday morning statement.

• Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D- Calif., agreed that jobs needed to return to Hollywood, but insisted that tariffs would only cause further hurt to the film industry. Tariffs will only double the price of tickets and do nothing for production in Los Angeles, she wrote on Monday.

• The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE, cited First Amendment concerns about the tariff, specifically pointing to Trump’s description of foreign films as propaganda.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report on Trump calling to reopen California’s Alcatraz prison less than an hour before posting about the movie tariffs.