Trump declares films made outside US will face 100% tariff

Move will be a concern to Ireland's booming film industry

The United States will impose a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the country, US president Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday. File picture: iStock/bjones27

The United States will impose a 100% tariff on all movies made outside the country, US president Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday, a move that one Irish film studio executive warned will "put the coffin in the US film industry".

Mr Trump took aim at the film industry in his latest tariff outburst. "Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing 'candy from a baby'," he said on Monday. Mr Trump had threatened to impose such levies earlier in May but offered few details, leading to confusion among entertainment industry executives.

Ireland’s generous Section 481 tax credit is worth up to 32% of expenditure to film productions up to €125m. The production spend generated by the Irish screen industry in 2024 was valued at over €430m, representing a 33% increase on 2023, according to Screen Ireland.

Édaín O Donnell, a director of West Cork Film Studios based in Skibbereen, West Cork, told the Irish Examiner that Mr Trump's plans to wrest film back to the US will backfire. "He is putting the final nail in the coffin of film industry in the US. It's dependent on co-productions from the European market. He is destroying his own industry and making it impossible to work there." 

The Jimmy Stewart biopic Jimmy, starring New Zealand actor KJ Apa, is currently filming in West Cork. Directed by Aaron Burn and producted by David Cook and John Norton, the movie is another example of the US-Irish co-productions made in this country. The film has used almost 1,000 extras locally. 

Shares of Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery were down 1.4% and 0.6%, respectively, in premarket trading.

Mr Trump had first floated the idea of a movie tariff in May but offered very little details, leaving entertainment executives unsure whether it would apply to specific countries or all imports.

Studio executives told Reuters earlier this year that they were "flummoxed" by how a movie tariff might be enforced, given that modern films often use production, financing, post-production and visual effects spread across multiple countries.

The move has drawn scepticism from legal and trade analysts. Some argue films are a form of intellectual property and part of the global trade in services, an area where the US often runs a surplus, raising questions about the legal basis for tariffs.

Co-productions with foreign studios have also become more common, adding to doubts about how such films would be classified.

A Department of Culture, Communications, and Sport spokesperson said: "US president Trump’s statement today of his intention to impose a 100% tariff on movies made outside the USA mirrors a similar statement made on 4 May 2025. Following the May statement, there were no details of how and when the tariff would be imposed. This seems to continue to be the case. Most films today are created, developed and filmed across two or more jurisdictions including the USA. While there is no doubt that tariffs are bad for trade and for growth, it is not possible to assess the impact of any action by USA without further detail."

Additional reporting by Reuters