Film world stunned by Trump's proposed tariffs

The head of state announced Sunday that he was directing his administration to "immediately begin the process of imposing 100 percent tariffs on all films imported into our country that are produced in foreign countries."

As is often the case with such sensational announcements, details are still unknown. This hasn't stopped the film industry worldwide from reacting strongly to the impending dilemma: whether to no longer show a film in the United States due to cost concerns, or to produce it entirely in this country.

"This looks potentially disastrous for the international film industry," a British agent told the specialist website Screen Daily, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Grants, tax exemptions

"There are a lot of unknowns for our industry, but until we know more, there's no doubt this will send tremors around the world," Matthew Deaner, director of the Australian Broadcasting Association, told the AAP news agency.

Donald Trump is responding to a business model popular with American studios and filmmakers: obtaining subsidies or tax exemptions to film in countries (such as Hungary, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, etc.) which, in turn, rely on the jobs generated and tourism revenue.

"The American film industry is dying very quickly. Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to lure our filmmakers and studios away from the United States," the president wrote.

The New York Times, hardly suspected of sympathy for Donald Trump's ideas, published an investigation in mid-April into the effects of this relocation. It discussed the destruction of middle-class jobs in film and television in Los Angeles.

"Nothing less than the future of Hollywood is at stake," the newspaper wrote, summarizing the comments it had gathered. One union representative compared the decline of the industry in California to that of the automobile industry in Detroit half a century ago. The major manufacturers are still headquartered there, but the factories are gone.

"Who wants that?"

"Major productions made from A to Z in the United States are rare," confirmed Evelyne Snow, a spokesperson for a Canadian film technicians' union, in an interview with the daily newspaper La Presse.

She's worried about the jobs at risk in the province of Quebec. According to her, "an American production in Montreal supports 2,000 people, from the cameraman to the limousine driver."

In France, the director of the public institution for cinema support (CNC), Gaëtan Bruel, already said in April that Europeans must "prepare for any hypothesis" in the face of "a possible American offensive against our model" of state support for culture.

Contacted by AFP in France, the Civil Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (ARP), the National Federation of Film Publishers (FNEF) and the Union of Film Producers (UPC) did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. The CNC declined to comment.

But what Donald Trump's proposed measure threatens is the entire film industry. The requirement to make everything in the United States, or face being barred from American theaters, risks snuffing out many projects.

The American cultural magazine Variety, which posed "seven questions" about this project, wrote in one of them: "Who wants this? Not Hollywood. Movie theaters are struggling to return to pre-pandemic levels. The last thing we need is another tax."