Politics
Trump wants non-U.S. movies to face 100% tariff. Who could it impact? TenX News
President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.
In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100 per cent tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw” filmmakers and studios away from the U.S. “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
It wasn’t immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” for instance, are shot around the world.
Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favourable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Yet Trump’s tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelming dominate the domestic marketplace.
China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than $2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, it earned just $20.9 million.
In New Zealand, where successive governments have offered rebates and incentives in recent years to draw Hollywood films to the country, the film industry has generated billions of dollars in tourism revenue driven by the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films, which featured the country’s pristine and scenic vistas. More recently, the blockbuster “Minecraft” movie was filmed entirely in New Zealand, and U.S. productions in 2023 delivered $1.3 billion New Zealand dollars (US$777 million) to the country in return for NZ$200 million in subsidies, according to government figures.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was awaiting more details of Trump’s measures before commenting on them but would continue to pitch to filmmakers abroad, including in India’s Bollywood. “We’ve got an absolutely world class industry,” he said. “This is the best place to make movies, period, in the world.”
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The Motion Picture Association, which represents major U.S. film studios and streaming services, didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday evening.
The MPA’s data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced US$22.6 billion in exports and US$15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023.
Trump, a Republican, has made good on the “tariff man” label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145 per cent tariff on Chinese goods and a 10 per cent baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened.
By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead.
Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas.
Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood to bring it “BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
U.S. film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production.
The group’s annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the U.S. made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth.
The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to US$750 million annually, up from US$330 million.
Other U.S. cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.
“Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. “If they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in.”
—Associated Press writers Gary Field in Washington and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report from Washington.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade mission to China is being framed as a win for British Columbia’s economy.
Carney announced a new deal with Beijing on electric vehicles and canola at the end of a high-profile trip on Friday.
“The inroads Canada has made this week are a sign that the government gets it and is showing Canadians and the world that we are open for business,” Alexa Young with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said.
The trade deal would allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada yearly at a tariff rate of 6.1 per cent.
An expanded auto terminal on Annacis Island will be able to handle the additional volume of cars that could be more affordable than what is currently on the market, with prices expected to be under $40,000.
The New Car Dealers Association said in a statement to Global News that, “We look forward to reviewing the full details of this announcement and engaging constructively with governments to ensure that affordability, competition, and long-term market stability remain central considerations.”
In British Columbia, the overall reaction to the news on Friday is positive.
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“China’s economy is important,” Alex McMillan with the B.C. Chamber of Commerce said.
“Having trade deals like this — and diversifying our markets — is important. Providing certainty is important.”
There are concerns with the agreement, including privacy issues and China’s human rights record. But Ottawa’s goal is to double trade with partners outside the United States, which is a goal that would be impossible without China.
“We do want to see more trade and more diversification of our markets and know that China is an important nation and important economy, so having better trade relationships with them, I think overall is going to be good,” McMillan said.
–with files from The Canadian Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A Crown prosecutor says a Calgary man who willingly joined and worked for an Islamic State terrorist group in the Middle East over a decade ago should spend 16 years in prison, while a defence lawyer has recommended 12 years.
Jamal Borhot, 35, was convicted in December of three counts of participation in a terrorist group for assisting in the terrorist activities of ISIS in Syria in 2013.
Court heard Borhot and his cousin Hussein Borhot illegally entered Syria through Turkey.
Hussein Borhot pleaded guilty in a separate trial and was sentenced in 2022 to 12 years.
In December, Justice Corina Dario found Jamal Borhot participated in violent acts, actively recruited others to join the cause and worked in administration.
He returned to Calgary after one year.
Jamal Borhot travelled to Syria in 2013 with his cousin Hussein Borhot, seen here outside the Calgary Court Centre, after pleading guilty in a separate trial in 2022.
Global News
The judge is scheduled to sentence Borhot on Feb. 4.
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At a sentencing hearing Friday, prosecutor Kent Brown said 16 years is appropriate for Jamal Borhot, as the cousin received less time for his pleas.
“The focus remains deterrence and denunciation and that is largely due to the pernicious nature of terrorism offences. Anyone who engages in those activities should expect a significant sentence as a result,” Brown said.
Borhot planned the trip to Syria and tried to hide his movements, the prosecutor said.
“There was real risk of serious harm caused by the offender’s conduct. I submit that’s without question here, given his involvement in battles in Syria.”
Brown added outside court that the case was difficult to prosecute since it happened so long ago. “It’s a cold case that happened in a country half way around the world.”
Defence lawyer Pawel Milczarek said his client has lived a peaceful life since returning to Canada and should have a sentence that’s proportionate to his cousin’s prison time.
Milczarek said Borhot became radicalized and wanted to help fight the Syrian government, as he believed it was randomly slaughtering civilians.
“Mr. Borhot was motivated by this purpose to travel to Syria. He found the wrong group to fight with,” the lawyer said.
“With 20/20 hindsight, we can all identify that ISIS became a violent terrorist organization after Mr. Borhot left Syria. We should not harshly punish Mr. Borhot for making a mistake with imperfect information.”
Borhot did not address the court.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
As Iran returned to uneasy calm after a wave of protests that drew a bloody crackdown, a senior hard-line cleric called Friday for the death penalty for detained demonstrators and directly threatened U.S. President Donald Trump — evidence of the rage gripping authorities in the Islamic Republic.
Trump, though, struck a conciliatory note, thanking Iran’s leaders for not executing hundreds of detained protesters, in a further sign he may be backing away from a military strike. Executions, as well as the killing of peaceful protesters, are two of the red lines laid down by Trump for possible action against Iran.
Harsh repression that has left several thousand people dead appears to have succeeded in stifling demonstrations that began Dec. 28 over Iran’s ailing economy and morphed into protests directly challenging the country’s theocracy.
There have been no signs of protests for days in Tehran, where shopping and street life have returned to outward normality, though a week-old internet blackout continued. Authorities have not reported any unrest elsewhere in the country.
“Iran canceled the hanging of over 800 people,” Trump told reporters in Washington, adding that “I greatly respect the fact that they canceled.”
Trump did not clarify who he spoke to in Iran to confirm the state of any planned executions.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Friday put the death toll at 3,090. The number, which exceeds that of any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the 1979 revolution, continues to rise.
The agency has been accurate throughout the years of demonstrations, relying on a network of activists inside Iran that confirms all reported fatalities.
The AP has been unable to independently confirm the toll. Iran’s government has not provided casualty figures.
Hard-line cleric’s fiery sermon
In contrast, the sermon by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami carried by Iranian state radio sparked chants from those gathered for prayers, including: “Armed hypocrites should be put to death!”
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Khatami, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and Guardian Council long known for his hard-line views, described the protesters as the “butlers” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Trump’s soldiers.” He said Netanyahu and Trump should await “hard revenge from the system.”
“Americans and Zionists should not expect peace,” the cleric said.
FILE – Iranian senior cleric Ahmad Khatami delivers his sermon during Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File).
EN
His fiery speech came as allies of Iran and the United States alike sought to defuse tensions. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday to both Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Israel’s Netanyahu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russia had previously kept largely quiet about the protests. Moscow has watched several key allies suffer blows as its resources and focus are consumed by its 4-year-old war against Ukraine, including the downfall of Syria’s former President Bashar Assad in 2024, last year’s U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro this month.
Exiled Iranian royal calls for fight to continue
Days after Trump pledged “help is on its way” for the protesters, both the demonstrations and the prospect of imminent U.S. retaliation appeared to have receded. One diplomat told The Associated Press that top officials from Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had raised concerns with Trump that a U.S. military intervention would shake the global economy and destabilize an already volatile region.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi urged the U.S. to make good on its pledge to intervene. Pahlavi, whose father was overthrown by Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, said he still believes the president’s promise of assistance.
“I believe the president is a man of his word,” Pahlavi told reporters in Washington. He added that “regardless of whether action is taken or not, we as Iranians have no choice to carry on the fight.“
“I will return to Iran,” he vowed. Hours later, he urged protesters to take to the streets again from Saturday to Monday.
Despite support by diehard monarchists in the diaspora, Pahlavi has struggled to gain wider appeal within Iran. But that has not stopped him from presenting himself as the transitional leader of Iran if the regime were to fall.
Iran authorities list protest damage
Khatami, the hard-line cleric, also provided the first overall statistics on damage from the protests, claiming 350 mosques, 126 prayer halls and 20 other holy places had sustained damage. Another 80 homes of Friday prayer leaders — an important position within Iran’s theocracy — were also damaged, likely underlining the anger demonstrators felt toward symbols of the government.
He said 400 hospitals, 106 ambulances, 71 fire department vehicles, and another 50 emergency vehicles also sustained damage.
Even as protests appeared to have been smothered inside Iran, thousands of exiled Iranians and their supporters have taken to the streets in cities across Europe to shout out their rage at the government of the Islamic Republic.
Amid the continuing internet shutdown, some Iranians crossed borders to communicate with the outside world. At a border crossing in Turkey’s eastern province of Van, a trickle of Iranians crossing on Friday said they were traveling to get around the communications blackout.
“I will go back to Iran after they open the internet,” said a traveler who gave only his first name, Mehdi, out of security concerns.
Also crossing the border were some Turkish citizens escaping the unrest in Iran.
Mehmet Önder, 47, was in Tehran for his textiles business when the protests erupted. He said he laid low in his hotel until it was shut for security reasons, then stayed with one of his customers until he was able to return to Turkey.
Although he did not venture into the streets, Önder said he heard heavy gunfire.
“I understand guns, because I served in the military in the southeast of Turkey,” he said. “The guns they were firing were not simple weapons. They were machine-guns.”
In a sign of the conflict’s potential to spill over borders, a Kurdish separatist group in Iraq said it has launched attacks on Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in recent days in retaliation for Tehran’s crackdown on protests.
A representative of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, said its members have “played a role in the protests through both financial support and armed operations to defend protesters when needed.” The group said the attacks were launched by members of its military wing based inside Iran.
Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press journalists Will Weissert and Darlene Superville in Washington and Serra Yedikardes at the Kapikoy Border Crossing, Turkey, contributed.
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