“We want movies made in the United States again!” declared President Donald Trump, as he announced a 100% tariff on films produced abroad. Without providing details on the measure, Latin America watches cautiously and with uncertainty about its potential impact. Trump’s wave of tariffs on all trade partners has already stirred unease in global markets. Now, his latest move touches the entertainment industry, as on Sunday he sought to rein in Hollywood and penalize feature films made outside the United States.
“There are procedural issues that are unclear because, for example, what we know is that tariffs apply only to goods, not services. And in reality, audiovisual production is a service,” said award-winning Argentine producer Axel Kuschevatzky in an interview. He emphasized the need to “first understand whether the measures will move forward” and “what their scope would be.”
“We’re still in an earlier phase,” said Kuschevatzky, who was part of the production team for the last three Argentine films nominated for the Oscar in the international category: The Secret in Their Eyes (winner), Wild Tales, and Argentina, 1985. Brazil won in that category this year with Still Here, a film about the country’s last military dictatorship (1964–1985), a national point of pride that spread across the region and even reached U.S. box offices.
From South America’s largest country, Marianna Souza, president of the Brazilian Association of Audiovisual Production Companies, expressed further uncertainty. “We don’t know whether this tax would apply only to films shown in movie theaters, or if it would also apply to productions shown on streaming platforms,” Souza said.
Cheaper in Latin America
“It’s also unclear whether the measure would apply to productions made by American producers but filmed in other countries,” Souza added. Colombia, for example, has become an attractive destination for international film production thanks to laws that promote audiovisual activity.
Another unanswered question is whether the measure will also cover soap operas and TV series. Netflix adapted Gabriel García Márquez’s famed novel One Hundred Years of Solitude for television, which won the Platino Award for Best TV Series in late April. It represents just the tip of the iceberg of Colombian productions featured in the streaming service’s vast catalog.
“Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and all these platforms are increasingly making movies and series in Colombia because it’s cheaper than doing so in the U.S. That’s where there will be an impact,” explained Gustavo Suárez, a film professor at the University of Valle. “Between 60% and 70%” of film production and execution in Colombia “is driven by those international services,” he noted.
When American filmmakers travel to smaller countries in the region—like Guatemala—they have an even more noticeable impact on the local labor market. If the tariffs do go into effect, “U.S. productions won’t come here anymore, and we’ll have fewer jobs for Guatemalans, because we don’t produce that many national films,” warns Pamela Guinea, one of Guatemala’s leading film producers.
Mexico, one of Latin America’s audiovisual powerhouses, has remained silent. Neither the private film industry chamber (CANACINE) nor the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) has issued a statement. “It’s still too early” to comment, a source in the industry said.
A Complex Definition
For Kuschevatzky, the very definition of movies “made in the United States,” which Trump wants to protect, is multi-faceted. “Is it about funding? About who holds the intellectual property rights? About where it’s filmed? It’s a complex definition,” he said.
After Trump asked the Department of Commerce to “immediately” begin the process of applying a 100% tariff on any movie “produced abroad,” Secretary Howard Lutnick responded: “We’re on it.” This announcement triggered a drop in the stock prices of studios such as Netflix, Disney, and Paramount.
