Prominent politicians have provided their initial reactions to plans announced by President Trump to impose a tariff on overseas film productions.

The announcement by the President came via his social media company, Truth Social, on which he said that the United States would impose a “100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands”. No further details about the proposed plans have since been released.

The news came as a significant shock to many in the industry, particularly in the United Kingdom where inward investment and co-production spend on film and high-end television in the UK reached £4.8 billion last year.

The Government immediately sought to allay concerns raised by the announcement: shortly after it was made, the Culture Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, said that the Government is “already in active discussions with the top of the US administration on this subject” and that it was “working hard to establish what might be proposed, if anything, and to make sure our world beating creative industries are protected”.

The Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Dame Caroline Dinenage, was less sanguine. She pointed to her Committee’s recent warning in its report on British film and high-end TV about “complacency on [the UK’s] status as the Hollywood of Europe”. She added that “making it more difficult to make films in the UK is not in the interests of American businesses. Their investment in facilities and talent in the UK, based on US-owned IP, is showing fantastic returns on both sides of the Atlantic. Ministers must urgently prioritise this as part of the trade negotiations currently underway.”

Shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister announced that a trade deal had been reached between the UK and USA. Details remain thin on the deal, but one subject that does not appear to have been addressed is the film tariffs, although the Prime Minster insisted that the Government was discussing the matter with the President’s team.

Where this leaves us is that no-one still has any further detail on what is precisely being proposed by the President. We will be monitoring the matter closely, and note Sir Chris Bryant’s assessment of the announcement when answering an urgent statement in the Commons: “a clear policy has not been announced—I think we need to be careful about that. As I said earlier, it is difficult to see how a tariff would be imposed on a service or on films in this way. I want to be careful and precise in the way we move forward on this…I was once told by a film producer, “Never judge a film by the first 10 minutes.” I think we can say the same of this”.