On Sunday, May 4, the current President of the United States of America announced that he was authorizing the Commerce Department and the Office of the 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.” The idea for this tariff was motivated by a proposal that had been submitted to the president by the actor Jon Voight and his manager, Steven Paul.
“How on earth are they going to enforce this?” asked Schuyler (Sky) M. Moore, a partner at the Los Angeles-based law firm Greenberg Glusker, in a statement to Variety. “The whole thing is a goofball — I can’t imagine how they’re going to do this in practice.”
The president did not include any detail about what should be a high school-level civics lesson: he does not actually have the legal authority to impose such a tariff. It is not yet known how the Commerce Department or the Office of the Trade Representative will implement it. Alas, the threat of a 100% tariff on films produced outside of the U.S. looms larger than an IMAX screen.
The president claims that the U.S. film industry is being “devastated” by other nations that want to lure U.S. productions to them. “This is a concerted effort by other nations,” he wrote, “and, therefore, a national security threat.”
In a production pipeline clogged with prequels, sequels, live-action remakes of animated films, and whatever “Megalopolis” was, the U.S. film industry might be in a slump, but reasons for that slump do not include other cultures attempting to usurp the American way of life. Some films need to be produced outside the U.S.
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For the past three years, the Academy Award for Best Documentary has been awarded to films made outside the U.S. In 2025, “No Other Land” examined Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In 2024, “20 Days in Mariupol” documented Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, “Navalny” told the story of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the events related to his poisoning death.
These films were produced outside the U.S. because they share details of the human experience outside the U.S. To limit access to these films for reasons of tariff-induced cost increases would limit American audience exposure to global narratives and the world beyond our borders. Those limitations would also have a net negative effect on exposure to fictional narratives.
“My first reaction upon hearing about the tariff was a fear that it would affect the availability of international films,” said Dean Otto, Curator of Film at Speed Cinema in Louisville. “The ability to view the world through the vision of artists is core to the programming at the Speed Cinema.”
The Berman Amendment
In 1988, former Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-CA), put forward the amendment to two laws: the Trading With the Enemy Act (TWEA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Now known as the “Berman Amendment,” it was written to set bounds for the president’s authority to prohibit the import or export of “informational materials.”
Berman believed that support for access to information was essential to U.S. foreign policy, so it should not be impeded by economic sanctions. He said at the time, “The fact that we disapprove of the government of a particular country ought not to inhibit our dialog with the people who suffer under those governments … We are strongest and most influential when we embody the freedoms to which others aspire.”
In 1994, the provisions of the Berman Amendment were expanded in the Free Trade in Ideas Act. The definition of “informational materials” became applicable “regardless of format or medium of transmission” to “any information or informational materials.” These provisions include films produced outside the U.S. by production companies based in the U.S. For example, “Wicked,” the third-highest-grossing film of 2024, produced by American companies Universal Pictures and Marc Platt Productions, was filmed at Sky Studios Elstree in the U.K.
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The provisions of the Free Trade in Ideas Act also include films produced outside the U.S. by companies based in any of the 194 other countries in the world. For example, Speed Cinema has screened “Drive My Car,” the Japanese-produced drama directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi with a cast of characters who speak English, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, and Korean Sign Language. This thoughtfully paced exploration of loss, grief, and intimacy went on to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Speed Cinema also screened “Memoria,” written and directed by Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, filmed in English (and featuring Tilda Swinton) in Colombia. Its U.S.-based distribution company, Neon, said, according to the director’s vision, there will never be a release of “Memoria” on Blu-ray disc or DVD, and the film will never stream on any service; instead, the film will tour the world one cinema at a time. Being able to see this film in Louisville for $12 was an unequivocal experience.
An increase in distribution costs could make films like these too expensive for exhibitors like Speed Cinema to screen them and also increase ticket prices for audiences who are already paying historically high prices for everyday expenses.
A Federal Film Incentive
“The details of the proposed tariff are too vague at the moment to know how this would work and if it would affect international films that are already in distribution or new films that would be purchased for distribution after a certain date,” Otto said.
In response to the proposed tariff, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has proposed a $7.5 billion federal film incentive. He said he was “eager to partner with” the president to “Make America Film Again.” (Whether his phrasing was cringe-on-purpose is unclear.)
The president claims the tariff is intended to stimulate growth in the U.S. film industry. By this rationale, an incentive would be an essential component of the otherwise nonselective policy. A federal incentive could also benefit film production in Kentucky, but the list of unanswered questions about the tariffs is long and growing. “With so little information at the moment, we’re forced to speculate what direction this will take.” Otto said.
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This article appears in May 9-22, 2025.