President Donald Trump announced he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to issue a 100% on all films produced in foreign lands.
In a post to Truth Social, President Trump wrote, “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”
“This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat,” he added. “It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
He then declared, “Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
It’s been well documented that the Chinese Communist Party used its monetary influence in an attempt to shape American opinions about the country. Back in September 2020, Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian wrote at Axios, “By censoring American blockbusters, Beijing believes it can prevent American and global audiences from imagining the Chinese Communist Party as a major threat, and from viewing the targets of China's repression as victims worthy of sympathy.”
An assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia Aynne Kokas added, “[Hollywood studios] are removing content that they worry could upset the Chinese government even before actually proposing it to the Chinese government. And there is pressure to include content that is more flattering to Beijing.”
Former president of DMG Entertainment and a production executive on Iron Man 3, Looper, and Point Break Chris Fenton has also warned about how Hollywood was being massively influenced by China. In a video, that has now been removed from YouTube, he said, “China wants to spread their narrative around the world.”
He went on to assert that China sent a message to Hollywood back in the late 90s, “We can’t just make the movies we want to go make. We need to think of what China will think of these stories. And then we need to censor the ones we think are going to be overly sensitive.”
“And then cut to today, that encroachment on Hollywood has gotten progressively worse. And we’ve heard a lot of different stories whether it’s Senator Ted Cruz talking about the jacket Tom Cruise is wearing in the latest Top Gun movie, where they had to remove the Taiwanese and Japanese flag from that jacket to various instances of the Nine-dash line which showcases China’s version of what its territory is in the DreamWorks Animation movie Abominable,” the producer stated.
If China is doing it, it’s very likely that other countries are doing it as well.
Now, obviously this move won’t correct the root causes of Hollywood’s decline, of which there are many. But it is clearly, a first step in an attempt to end foreign propaganda or at the very least suppress it to some extent.
What do you make of Trump’s move to institute a 100% on foreign produced films?
Well, the death of H-wood can't come soon enough.
I was in the industry back in the 70s.
It is FAR WORSE than anyone thinks.
Hints of it come out and the normies all cry "kooky conspiracy theories!"
The positives of the tariffs are getting more and better. Stopping woke movies from being made is fantastic.