California Democrats bash Trump's foreign-film tariffs: ‘Nonsensical'

The Hill

06-05-2025

California Democrats are hammering President Trump's recent proposal to slap new tariffs on foreign-made films.
The lawmakers are warning that, if it's imposed, Trump's 100-percent levy would simply result in higher costs for movie consumers in the United States.
'This is just nonsensical,' Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters Tuesday in the Capitol.
'There are things that we can do to increase production [and encourage] the film industry to film in the United States,' he continued. 'We should be looking at those ideas and strategies, not reckless tariffs that will cost people jobs and raise costs for Americans.'
Trump announced his new tariff proposal on Sunday night on Truth Social, the social media company he owns, saying the incentives other countries provide to attract filmmakers pose a national security threat. The policy change, he said, would revive a domestic movie industry that's 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 wrote.
'It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!' he added. '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!'
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who represents parts of Los Angeles, joined Aguilar in bashing the proposal as short-sighted, saying it would damage the industry it purports to save. Lieu said the more effective strategy would be tax incentives designed to entice filmmakers to do their work in the United States — a concept he had championed when he was a member of California's state legislature.
'Donald Trump didn't appear to have talked to anyone about the 100 percent tariff on foreign movies — it just seems like another random idea that he put out there with no thought about how it would actually be implemented. Because if it was implemented, it would increase consumer costs on movies,' Lieu said.
'Also, it would just make some movies really far less interesting,' Lieu added. 'If 'All Quiet on the Western Front' had to be renamed 'All Quiet on the U.S. Side of the Canadian Border' — [that's a] much less interesting movie. So there's just no thought behind what Donald Trump is doing with his indiscriminate tariffs.'