President Trump Announces 100% Tariffs on Movies Filmed Outside the US

US President Donald Trump has announced — via a Sunday evening post on Truth Social — that he is authorizing the institution of immediate 100% tariffs on all movies produced on foreign lands, calling them a national security threat.

The move appears poised to coincide with this weekend’s latest Marvel release of Thunderbolts* that earned a $76 million domestic debut. Viral news of the movie’s solid start to kick off the summer box office season culminated in a global opening of $162.1 million in just two days.

Thunderbolts* was primarily filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, and across Utah, with specific locations including Green River, Salt Lake and Wasatch, Emery, and Grand counties. One crucial scene, however, was filmed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using the 118-story world’s second-largest building, Merdeka 118. That scene, which has gone viral along with the movie’s box office numbers, draws questions as to whether a small portion of a film being shot in a foreign location will qualify it for the 100% tariff.

Beyond that, it’s unclear how a tariff would be applied to a film since it’s not being imported through US ports of entry. Tariffs are applicable to physical goods imported into a country, whereas movies and TV shows are mostly digital items that are streamed by viewers rather than purchased as physical media. There is, unsurprisingly, confusion regarding whether this will also apply to the import of foreign films and even streaming media such as animated films produced overseas, and how that would be calculated.

Further, it’s unclear how movie production outside of the United States qualifies as a “national security threat.”

For example, Netflix is the most popular streaming service, boasting over 300 million paid subscribers worldwide and available in over 190 countries. Monday morning, Forbes reported that “just more than half, or 51%, of Netflix’s 2024 content spending went to content from outside of North America” and that this latest tariff news on films has immediately resulted in stock loss.

“$20.4 billion. That’s how much market capitalization Netflix lost Monday. That’s almost exactly the same as Warner Bros. Discovery’s $20.5 billion total valuation,” Forbes says.

With tariff announcements continuing to roll out, and face multiple modifications to percentage and policy, it will remains to be seen how this latest order is implemented and how it will affect the film industry.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.