Trump film trade war looms over Cannes-OxBig News Network

U.S. President Donald Trump
| Photo Credit: AP

Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on foreign-made films risks stoking tensions between the European and American film industries and dominating conversations at the Cannes film festival this week.

The U.S. President has added a trade war to the sector’s list of concerns that already included competition from streaming platforms.

The already tricky commercial outlook for big-screen owners and film producers darkened considerably last Sunday when Trump said he wanted 100-per cent tariffs on movies “produced in foreign lands”.

Even if most observers think the proposal is unworkable, it risks destabilising an industry that is highly globalised and depends on open trade.

“It’ll be one of the big issues in Cannes,” said Eric Marti from US.-.based media measurement agency Comscore. He said statements from another American leader — the co-CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos — had also focused minds. Sarandos said recently that cinema-going was “an outmoded idea for most people”, pointing to the fact that audience numbers worldwide have not rebounded since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival in Cannes from Tuesday will see directors, actors and distributors try to make sense of Mr. Trump’s intentions and those of his Hollywood advisors, actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone.

Mr. Trump’s tariff salvo is part of a picture of growing tension between Europe and the U.S. over the film and TV industries since the former reality TV star returned to the White House in January. As part of his ultra-nationalist “Make America Great Again” agenda, Mr. Trump’s Republican administration also has EU regulations that protect and promote European cinema in its crosshairs.

The regulations take many forms but typically include measures such as taxing cinema tickets to fund independent filmmakers, quotas for European or non-English-language productions, or forcing major studios to fund domestic productions.