👉 Background: Hollywood has long been the epicenter of celebrity culture and the movie industry, home to studios like Paramount, Warner Bros, and Disney. But in recent years, major productions such as Mission Impossible and Jurassic World Rebirth have been filmed overseas, lured by generous foreign tax breaks.

👉 What happened: In May, Donald Trump claimed the U.S. film industry had been “stolen” by overseas productions, calling it “like stealing candy from a baby.” To counter this, he announced plans to impose a 100% tariff on films made outside the U.S.

👉 What else: It’s unclear how these tariffs would even be implemented, since films aren’t physical goods passing through ports. Still, if enacted, the policy could have major consequences for the global film industry... particularly in countries like Australia.

What's the key learning?

💡Film isn’t just art or entertainment, it’s become a global trade game. The US industry has taken a hit, with 29% fewer moviesand TV series with budgets above $40m filmed locally in 2024 compared to 2022, according to data company ProdPro.

💡That decline is largely because the UK, Australia, and Canada have enticed studios away with generous tax incentives, shifting big-budget productions overseas. In fact, the Australian government offers a 30% rebate on production costs for large-budget films.

💡As a result, international productions spent $1.7 billion locally in 2023–24, according to Screen Australia. While it’s unclear how serious Trump is with these tariffs, it’s certainly a warning for the local film industry.