Now it's movie censorship
By Sharon
Zhang , Truthout
Donald Trump announced on May 4 that his administration is implementing a 100 percent tariff on all films produced in foreign countries, denouncing them as “propaganda” as he aims to wrest further control over information and the media in the U.S.
In a post
on Truth Social, Trump claimed that the tariff would help revive the
“DYING” U.S. film industry. He dubiously declared it a “National Security
threat” that foreign studios are “offering all sorts of incentives” to draw
U.S. filmmakers to other countries.
“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and
propaganda!” the president wrote. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
It’s unclear how the policy would be implemented,
since movies
are distributed in numerous ways and may involve foreign labor or
locations for filming and other aspects of the filmmaking process. Several
recent and upcoming blockbuster films like A Minecraft Movie, Wicked,
and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning were largely
shot outside of the U.S. by American production companies.
Meanwhile, American’s access to fully foreign-made films,
like the recent Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, could also
be restricted under the tariff.
Analysts warn that the tariffs could not only devastate
foreign film industries, but also the U.S. film industry, which is the largest
in the world. Any potential reciprocal
tariffs would also deal a major blow to American filmmaking, experts
have said; last month, China already said that it
would restrict imports of Hollywood films in retaliation for Trump’s
sweeping tariffs on the country. Sunday’s announcement has already caused U.S.
media companies’ stocks to fall.
Like Trump’s other tariffs, any
raised costs for things like physical media or movie tickets would
inevitably be passed on to the consumer.
The tariff announcement comes as Trump and the right have
carried out numerous acts of censorship. The right has spent years
targeting thousands
of books with bans, while the Trump administration
has uplifted right-wing influencers, podcasters and news outlets as it
attacks legacy news outlets it perceives to be biased against the right.
Experts say that the Trump administration’s attacks on journalism are an attempt to erode press freedom and control the media, restricting information available to Americans in order to suppress viewpoints and demand fealty.
This has come through vague threats
and outright attacks to cause capitulation, as with Trump’s attacks
on CBS and “60 Minutes”; credential
revocations, as with the White House’s attempts to bar the Associated
Press from the press pool; and, on Thursday, an
executive order Trump signed to defund NPR and PBS,
which the outlets are challenging in court. In the order, Trump denounced the
outlets as “woke propaganda.”
A recent
report by Reporters Sans Frontières found that press freedom has hit a
historic low, due in large part to Trump’s attacks.
Sharon
Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics,
climate and labor. Before coming to Truthout, Sharon had
written stories for Pacific Standard, The New Republic,
and more. She has a master’s degree in environmental studies. She can be found
on Twitter and Bluesky.
