President Trump’s call to impose steep tariffs on movies “produced in Foreign Lands” came after he met at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend with the actor Jon Voight, whom he named a “special ambassador” to Hollywood this year.
The president’s social media post on Sunday that called for a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the United States caused confusion in Hollywood, which has lost a great deal of local film and television production to states and nations that offer rich tax credits and cheaper labor. While few in the industry said that they understood Mr. Trump’s proposal, some worried that tariffs could cause more harm than good and called instead for federal help in the form of tax credits.
Mr. Voight and Steven Paul, his longtime manager, met with Mr. Trump over the weekend and shared their plans to increase domestic film production, according to a statement from SP Media Group, Mr. Paul’s firm. They suggested federal tax incentives, changes to the tax code, co-production treaties with other nations and infrastructure subsidies, the statement said.
The proposal also included “tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” the statement said, adding that it was under review.
Mr. Voight made the rounds of Hollywood last week, meeting with the Motion Picture Association, Hollywood’s top lobbying group; various unions; and the state representatives who are pushing bills to increase state tax credits for the film and television industries. State Senator Ben Allen, a Democrat whose district includes Hollywood, met with the actor to discuss how to increase production in the state, a representative said.
Mr. Voight emerged from those meetings with two one-page documents drafted by the M.P.A. One letter encourages lawmakers in Washington to adopt a manufacturing and production incentive to encourage more domestic employment. The other asks Congress to extend a section of the tax code that expires at the end of 2025 and allows certain film and television expenses to be deducted in the year they are incurred.
There was no mention of tariffs in drafts of either document that were reviewed by The New York Times.
The letters were endorsed by Hollywood groups including the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, the Writers Guild East, Producers United, the Independent Film and Television Alliance, and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.
The M.P.A. declined to comment on Monday. The association’s members include Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros. and Amazon.
Much about Mr. Trump’s effort remains unclear. What kinds of movies, exactly, would face tariffs? Would tariffs apply only to movies receiving tax incentives from foreign countries — or to any movie with scenes shot overseas? What about foreign films? Or postproduction visual effects work? Amid those and many other questions, several analysts said it was highly unlikely that a 100 percent tariff on all movies made overseas would materialize.
On Monday morning a spokesman for the White House, Kush Desai, clarified that “no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made” but added that “the administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive.” Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday that he planned to meet with entertainment industry representatives, adding: “I’m not looking to hurt the industry; I want to help the industry.”
The industry has been desperate for help, just not this kind.
Generous government incentives and cheaper labor have lured film and television to shoot many of their projects far from Hollywood, even though a vast majority of movies shown in American cinemas are technically produced in the United States.
That has left Los Angeles in a lurch. Thousands of middle-class film workers — camera operators, set decorators, lighting technicians, makeup artists, caterers, electricians — have seen work evaporate.
In a statement on Monday, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said tens of thousands of jobs across the United States had been lost in the past two years.
“The United States needs a balanced federal response to return film and television jobs,” the union’s president, Matthew D. Loeb, said. The union praised Mr. Trump for recognizing the threat that international competition poses to domestic film industry jobs, but Mr. Loeb said “we await further information on the administration’s proposed tariff plan.” He added that the union said it would not support a plan that would harm its Canadian members, or the industry overall.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the head of SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents actors, said in a statement, “We look forward to learning more about the specifics of the plan announced by the president and to advancing a dialogue to achieve our common goals.”
Industry workers and state officials have sought to increase the amount of funding for filming made available by the state of California, and some have also begun pushing for a federal tax credit that can layer on top of state incentives. (More than three dozen states already offer incentives to lure film and television production.)
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, has pushed to more than double the available funding for the state’s tax incentive program. Izzy Gardon, a spokesman for Mr. Newsom, deferred judgment on the president’s call for a tariff. “If the president announces a proposal with more details,” he said, “we will review it.”
On Monday, an array of state and federal lawmakers and the unions and moviemakers sought to express appreciation for Mr. Trump’s attention to the issue while pushing for tax credits rather than a tariff.
Mr. Loeb, for instance, said his union had recommended that the Trump administration introduce a federal film production tax incentive. Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, is working on a federal film incentive proposal, his office said.
“I share the administration’s desire to bring movie making back to the United States,” Mr. Schiff said in a statement. “While blanket tariffs on all films would have unintended and potentially damaging impacts, we have an opportunity to work together to pass a major federal film tax credit to re-shore American jobs in the industry.”
Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, one of the lawmakers who has written one of the state bills, was more blunt.
“While we haven’t seen the details of this tariff on the entertainment industry,” he said, “President Trump’s tariffs in other areas are harming American consumers.”
“A better approach than President Trump’s tariffs,” he added, “would be to adopt federal tax credits to keep jobs in America.”
Representative Laura Friedman, a former Hollywood producer who has led a push to keep production in Los Angeles, urged Mr. Trump on Monday to join her “in fighting for a national film tax credit that levels the playing field with overseas incentives.”
The mere suggestion of a large, broad tariff, however, spooked many in the movie industry.
“While the problem is real, tariffs are not the solution,” the collective Producers United said in a statement. “Imposing tariffs on ‘foreign’ production would have devastating consequences not only for international partners but also for U.S.-based companies, workers and creators.”
“A more strategic approach is to implement a federal production rebate that incentivizes studios and financiers to bring jobs home,” the statement continued. “Such a policy would create domestic opportunity, enhance competitiveness and preserve the creative excellence that defines American entertainment.”
Shawn Hubler contributed reporting from Los Angeles and Laurel Rosenhall from Sacramento.
