Culture Minister Li Yuan (李遠) said Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s intent to impose a 100% tariff on movies produced outside of the United States may very well impact Taiwan’s cultural industry. He said the ministry has begun making arrangements in the event the tariff indeed comes into effect.
Trump on Sunday posted to his Truth Social platform his intent to place a 100% tariff on all movies produced in “foreign lands.” He asserted the U.S. film industry was “dying” because other countries offer American filmmakers incentives to shoot abroad. He appeared to soften his tone Tuesday, saying he was planning to speak with film industry leaders and that he did not intend to hurt the industry.
The proposed tariff is the latest in a slew of tariff policies enacted by Trump since he took office for his second term. Many lawmakers expressed their concerns, with KMT Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) pointing out that the box office figures for movies imported from the U.S. to Taiwan should help the Cabinet make a case for tariff negotiations. Ko added that if the 100% movie tariff does come to pass, the cost of making movies in Taiwan will increase, causing the cultural industry to face the same issues faced by the technology and electronics industries and necessitating government support.
Li said that because the cultural industry was not included in the Cabinet’s tariff response regulations, he did not participate in tariff negotiations between Taiwan and the U.S. However, he stressed that the ministry has already begun working on ways to mitigate the effects of such tariffs on Taiwan’s cultural industry.
Li also recounted how, after Taiwan officially joined the World Trade Organization in 2002 and allowed full import of American films, the market share for domestic films fell to less than 1% the following year. By 2011, the domestic film industry had fully recovered, claiming a market share of 16%. He spoke in strong support of Taiwanese filmmakers, saying they made this breakthrough entirely through their own efforts.