Last night the President announced the immediate authorization of 100% tariffs on “Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” He claimed the American movie industry is dying, other countries are “stealing the movie-making capabilities” from us, and that films made outside the US are “messaging and propaganda.”
Let’s set aside the chilling and not-so-vaguely communist “messaging and propaganda” accusation and its obvious conflict with the First Amendment. We have plenty to cover here with just the hard facts.
The American movie industry will be surprised to hear it is “DYING a very fast death” considering its most recent economic report proudly listed $22.6 billion in annual exports, with $15.3 billion in trade surplus. The movie industry trade surplus is larger than that of our telecommunications or health services industries.
Nevertheless, for some unknown reason, the President has decided this booming business is actually on its deathbed and needs him to rescue it. Enter his favorite cure-all: tariffs! Tariffing films “produced in Foreign Lands” will save the day.
The President could not have foreseen that his tariff announcement would have the same result as every other tariff announcement: an immediate drop in the stock market. Specifically, hits to the value of major American television and film companies. Disney, Paramount, Netflix, Lionsgate, and Warner Brothers shares all fell this morning.
Trump will probably insist this is simply short-term pain for long-term gain. It isn’t. It’s short-term pain for absolutely nothing—worse than nothing, because it never should have happened in the first place.
These tariffs will never be implemented because they are illegal. The law he is using to declare a national emergency and levy all the tariffs he’s enacted so far explicitly prohibits him from regulating the importation of films. The relevant law is 50 U.S. Code § 1702 – Presidential authorities, if you’d like to read it yourself. It’s perfectly clear. “The authority granted to the President by this section does not include the authority to regulate or prohibit…the importation from any country…of any information or informational materials, including but not limited to…films…”
This illegal attempt to levy tariffs on films will inevitably be challenged in court, where DOJ time and taxpayer dollars will be spent in a futile attempt to defend the President’s illegal actions. And in the meantime, he has once again harmed American businesses and erased American wealth.
It all seems awfully wasteful. Someone should alert DOGE.
What we can do:
Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Monty Python and the Holy Grail—a foreign film—was re-released in theaters yesterday. Maybe go to the movies?
Wilderness Dispatch 