Today dawned red hot and blue following a Truth Social post by U.S. President Donald Trump announcing a 100% tariff on "any and all" movies coming to America from "Foreign Lands".

In less than12 hours, thousands had responded to the 'let's make movies in America, again' post, tens of thousands had listened to Trump talk about how "other nations are stealing the movie making capabilities" of the U.S. and blame a "grossly incompetent governer" who had allowed that to happen; and million of hours were spent parsing Trump's intentions. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry, particularly in the U.S., looked like it was shifting into Defcon-1 mode.

The most sensible wondered: "What problem is Trump actually trying to solve?"

Among other questions, The Hollywood Reporter asked: Would a movie tariff actually bring film production back to the U.S.?

Most worrying for an Asian industry obsessed with a U.S. footprint is whether the blanket tariff will extend to streaming and TV series. 

Korean giant CJ ENM is likely to be at the front of the worried line, having just (like this past weekend) announced a multi-year exclusive global (ex Korea and China) mega-deal with Prime Video. Netflix's top title is "Squid Game"; season three of the blockbuster series releases on 27 June. 

None of the companies that are potentially most impacted had issued on-the-record responses by Monday evening. We've asked...  

For Trump on the day (or the evening he posted), the answer-of-the-moment seems to be clear: A 100% tariff will save the U.S. movie industry from "DYING a very fast death", prevent country-wide devastation as a direct result of filming and other incentives being offered elsewhere in the world, and head off a national security threat, foreign messaging and propaganda from Foreign Lands.  

Our excellent sources tell us that the U.S. runs a trade surplus in film and entertainment. So where's the win? 

As of today (5 May), the biggest box office draws in the U.S. seem to be American already (although not necessarily filmed entirely in the U.S.), according to Box Office Mojo.

For 2025, the top film so far is "A Minecraft Movie" (total gross: just under US$2.5 billion). Last year's top title was "Inside Out 2" (US$8.6 billion). In 2023, the film that topped gross box office revenue was "Barbie" at US$8.9 billion). 2022 was "Top Gun: Maverick" (US$7.4 billion), which was 65% up on 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home". 

Many of these take glorious advantage of locations and incentives all over the world. New Zealand, the U.K., Europe... but they are still considered very much Hollywood product by everyone. Except maybe the Trump administration? Hard to know this early after the Sunday night post.    

The biggest Chinese film in the past few years is "Ne Zha 2", distributed by the Beijing-based CMC Pictures. The film released in China at the end of January this year and in Feb in the U.S, where domestic box office gross to date is less than US$21 million (1.1% of the total). Worldwide box office is more than US$1,898 million. The film's best market was, predictably, China at US$1,862 million.

Whatever unfolds next, Trump's latest post was not delivered into a void. Read these... 

10 Aprll 2025: Official: China to reduce Hollywood film imports 

7 April 2025: U.S. trade positions rattle APAC film and TV industries; Australia stands firm, jury out in China, Korea, India and the rest of the region