Jon Voight Gave Trump Idea For 100% Tariffs On Foreign-Made Films – And Hollywood Isn’t Happy With Him

Baila Eve ZismanMay 8, 2025, 6:42 pmNews >

Adding to his long list of steep tariffs, President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on films made in foreign countries.

On May 5, Trump posted to TruthSocial, writing, “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. 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. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”

He declared, “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.”

He concluded, “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to Trump’s announcement, “We’re on it.”

Many in and out of the industry were quick to voice their fury and confusion, with one industry professional remarking, “It’s shocking and represents a virtually complete halt of production.”

On Thursday, it was reported that Trump got the idea from his friend, actor Jon Voight, a well-known arch-conservative. Trump recently “appointed” Voight as his “ambassador” to Hollywood, along with Mel Gibson.

Following the immediate backlash, Trump said he would “meet with the industry” to “make sure they’re happy.”

In recent years, more and more filmmakers have been leaving Hollywood to shoot movies out of the country for lower production costs, particularly in Canada and the U.K., and blockbusters such as Wicked, Deadpool & Wolverine and Gladiator II were filmed outside of the U.S. The so-called “runaway production” has resulted in the unemployment of many individuals in the movie and TV industry.

Trump didn’t say whether the tariffs would apply to films on streaming services in addition to theaters, nor was it clear how they would be calculated.

Timothy Richards, the founder of European cinema chain Vue, questioned how Trump planned to define a U.S. film, asking BBC Radio 4’s Today program, “Is it where the money comes from? The script, the director, the talent, where it was shot?” He remarked, “The devil will be in the details.”