A Reel Trade War

With a single Truth Social post, Donald Trump has plunged Hollywood into chaos, as studios seek clarity on his declaration that a “100% tariff” will be applied to films made “in foreign lands.”

Author

Oliver Darcy
May 05, 2025

Jon Voight, Steven Paul, President Trump and Scott Karol. (Photo courtesy SP Media Group)

Over the weekend, Jon Voight—the Oscar-winning actor turned MAGA loyalist—traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a meeting with Donald Trump. Voight, one of Trump’s “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, was joined by his manager, Steven Paul, and Scott Karol, the president of Paul’s production company. The visit, which culminated in a posed photo with Trump in a room overlooking the golf course at his Florida club, was centered on a proposal to revive the American film industry. While Voight and his team submitted to Trump what they described as a “comprehensive plan” to “increase domestic film production,” the optics were unmistakable: it was an ideologically charged effort to “make Hollywood great again."

By Sunday night, the meeting had morphed into presidential policy. Trump astonished the industry when he posted on Truth Social that he had directed the Commerce Department and U.S. Trade Representative to initiate a 100% tariff on “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” His justification was, naturally, rooted in nationalism and protectionism: foreign nations, he claimed, are luring away American filmmakers with tax breaks and using the cinema as cultural propaganda. “Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” he wrote, adding, “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

But while the rhetoric is more than familiar, the economic implications are anything but. The entire U.S. entertainment industry immediately found itself staring down a policy bombshell with no clear precedent—and no clear answers.

Major studios—Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Netflix—went into damage-assessment mode. None issued public statements on Monday, with one studio executive noting to me…

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The Pulitzer Prizes announcement intro. (Courtesy of the Pulitzer Prizes)

Pulitzer Picks: Monday was Pulitzer Prizes day, and The New York Times emerged as the biggest winner, taking home four awards across categories including international, explanatory, and local reporting, as well as breaking news photography (Doug Mills won for the stunning images he snapped of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump). The New Yorker followed with three prizes, honored for its commentary, audio storytelling, and feature photography. The Washington Post picked up two, including for its coverage of breaking news and illustrated commentary, which notably went to Ann Telnaes, who resigned from the newspaper earlier this year in protest. Single Pulitzers went to ProPublica, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg CityLab, Esquire, Baltimore Banner, and the Houston Chronicle.

► Status Scoop | Where in the World Is Will?: Notably, as The WaPo celebrated its wins, I’m told publisher and chief executive Will Lewis…

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