Anime could become a lot more expensive to view in the United States if president Donald Trump’s latest fuzzy, unformed thought becomes a reality.
In a social media post on Truth Social yesterday evening, Trump announced a “100% Tariff” on any film “produced in Foreign Lands.” He wrote:
The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! 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. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!
The announcement, made in his typically vague and muddled style of communication, has left everyone in Hollywood confused and concerned. Would the rule apply to already-produced films or future productions? If an American studio film is partly produced abroad, would it be subject to a tariff? Does the rule apply to streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll which offer hundreds of foreign films? Will other countries add retaliatory tariffs on American films?
A White House spokesperson clarified this morning that, “Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again.”
As with many of Trump’s chaotic and unserious announcements, his film tariff idea will almost certainly fizzle out. But assuming it is implemented in some form, here are some preliminary thoughts on how a deal like this might affect the animation industry:
- It is certainly true that U.S. animation production is shifting overseas and that the American animation industry is suffering. But the issue is with American film studios themselves, not competition from foreign films. It is American companies that are outsourcing their own films abroad, not an influx of foreign films that are competing for box office dollars with American titles.
- Further, any tariff deal would almost certainly exclude films made by American studios since virtually no “American” film is made entirely in the United States anymore. If the tariff included American studio films, then there would be tariff on virtually 100% of Hollywood’s films, which would be illogical. This applies equally to animation as live action. Recent “American” animated films like Moana 2, Dog Man, Despicable Me 4, and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim were made to varying degrees in Canada, U.K., France, and Japan, respectively. The only major U.S. animation studio that continues to produce all of its films in this country is Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios.
- Any such tariff would more likely affect independent distributors of foreign animated films, which account for a minor (but growing) percentage of theatrical grosses. Take, for example, Angel Studios, which distributed the fully-South Korean production King of Kings, currently the second-highest-grossing animation release in the U.S. this year. Or this year’s Oscar winner Flow, distributed via Janus Films, which grossed $4.8 million. The biggest loser in this scenario would be anime filmmakers whose recent titles have been outperforming in the U.S., including successes such as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train ($49.5 million) and The Boy and the Heron ($46.8 million).
- Retaliatory tariffs by other countries on American animated features would have a devastating effect on the U.S. animation industry. The rest of the world is already in the process of de-globalizing from its reliance on American animated features. This year alone, animated movies from both China and Indonesia set local records. In those countries, as well as Japan, the highest-grossing animated film is not American made. As local animation production accelerates globally, there is a strong desire in many countries to promote local content. Retaliatory tariffs on American films would be a convenient way to further grow their own film industries — and it would be done at the expense of Hollywood animated features.
