Key points
- Trump says he has asked his top trade official to start process of imposing a tax on Hollywood
- Says he has authorised US Trade Representative to start process of taxing
ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump said Sunday he was ordering new tariffs on all movies made outside the United States (US), claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of US filmmakers and studios working abroad.
The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe, according to AFP.
“Process of taxing”
The New York Times reported that Trump said he had authorized Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, to begin the process of taxing “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Trump said, “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.”
Trump’s statement comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the US president’s combative trade policies with 145 per cent tariffs on many goods, said last month it would reduce the number of US films it imported.
“Movie industry is dying”
“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,” Trump said Sunday.
The implications for the movie industry — or how exactly the tariffs would be enacted — were not immediately clear, according to AFP.
