President Donald Trump’s proposed 100 per cent tariff on foreign-produced films will cause “economic hardship” in Canada and the United States, a leading Canadian trade group said Monday.
The global film industry was left reeling after Trump’s latest tariff announcement, even as details of the plan remained unclear.
“The proposed actions outlined in U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement will cause significant disruption and economic hardship to the media production sectors on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border,” the Canadian Media Producers Association said in a statement.
Hollywood films and major U.S. television productions are regularly filmed in Canada.
A survey of studio executives revealed that their top five preferred production locations for 2025 and 2026 were all outside of the United States, due to competitive tax incentive schemes on offer.
Toronto was first on the list and Vancouver ranked third.
Ontario’s government said it would do “whatever it takes” to protect jobs, including film industry work in Toronto.
“We continue to work closely with industry and labour partners impacted by President Trump’s unjustified tariffs,” tourism and culture ministry spokesman Scott Clark said in a statement.
Bernard Lariviere, who heads a film technicians union in the province of Quebec, said a third of their members work on U.S. productions, underscoring the extensive cross-border links.
Hollywood is a major sector of the United States’ economy, generating more than 2.3 million jobs and US$279 billion in sales in 2022, according to the latest data from the Motion Picture Association.
But in the wake of the Hollywood strikes and the COVID pandemic impacts — which changed how Americans consumed movies, opting to watch at home instead of in theaters — the industry is still struggling to regain its momentum.
Trump claimed Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of U.S. filmmakers and studios working abroad.
