A Trump Follywood production

In a move that feels less policy, more Indian state government executive order to 'save the local film industry from hegemonic Hollywood (and Bollywood)', Trump has announced a 100% tariff on 'any and all movies' made outside the US. Claiming that the US movie-making business is being 'stolen' by other countries, the communist president with an American accent is once again playing to his MAGA box office.

This is protectionism as projectionism. Trump's cinematic nationalism echoes the logic of most of our state governments that have, for years, taxed extra films not in their regional languages. But Trump's latest tariff tantrum takes this provincial paranoia global, and in an industry that is more globally connected than ever. Imagine charging double for films like Amelie, Pan's Labyrinth or RRR because they're not 'American enough'. In any case, the global film industry has increasingly become the opposite of geopolitics: more location-agnostic, with various aspects of a movie being sourced in different parts of the world for reasons of economy and talent. Animators from Chennai, coordinate with production crews from Barcelona, who fit into an FX team from Santa Fe, with a lead actor from Wales, with the story set in China.

Hollywood itself has been an ardent student of global content. Tarantino borrows from Kurosawa, Nolan shoots in Mumbai, and Marvel films rake in billions from Chinese audiences. This tariff won't 'revive' American cinema in a world where other hubs of production have emerged. It will make Americans pay more to see 'any and all movies' including those made 'at home'. In the age of streaming shows and movies, Trump's latest swadeshi strike smacks of a 20th-century fox, an era where America seems headed.