President Trump is telling people to buy fewer Barbie dolls. The Xbox Series X is now $100 more expensive than it was a month ago. And now even anime is threatened by the administration’s ongoing trade war. Trump recently threatened 100 percent tariffs on all foreign-made movies like Avengers: Doomsday and Chainsaw Man, resulting in two familiar reactions: “What the heck?!” and “Oh no.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump posted on social media on Sunday. He blamed other countries for offering financial incentives encouraging productions to film overseas and called it a national security threat.
“Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” he wrote. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
Uh, how would that work? Imports are normally taxed at ports of entry based on the prices of the goods. How would that apply to movies distributed at the box office and over streaming platforms? Nobody seems quite sure, and like lots of half-cocked plans fired off on social media, this could be another Trump nothing burger. Actual businesses don’t have the luxury of gambling like that, however.
Reuters reported that Hollywood execs were scrambling last night to figure out what the hell was going on. Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and other entertainment companies saw their stock prices go down on Monday. The policy as outlined would also hit anime. This year alone sees the releases of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle, and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc in theaters, as well as re-releases of several older movies like Spirited Away.
“Japanese films, such as those by Studio Ghibli, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, are also popular in the U.S. If Trump imposes film tariffs, it will limit Americans’ opportunities to see these foreign films,” one Japanese media outlet reported today. It’s unclear how this would impact shows and feature-length content on streaming services like Crunchyroll, but they would seemingly also be tariffed in some way unless Trump backtracks.
One irony to the surprise announcement is that a very vocal contingent of Trump’s online support comes from self-professed anime fans. We’ll have to see how they react to this latest betrayal.
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