Trump’s move to slap 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made movies expected to impact Indian movie industry too

May 5, 20253 Mins Read

US is set to slap a 100 per cent tariff on all movies coming into the country that are produced in “foreign land.” US President Donald Trump on Sunday night took to Truth Social to state that he is directing the Department of Commerce and United States Trade Representative to immediately implement a 100 per cent tariff on movies produced outside the US. While more clarity is awaited, industry observers and trade analysts believe this move could also have an impact on Indian movies, for which the US is a critical international release market.

US, UK, Canda, Gulf region, Australia and New Zealand are among the top five key international markets for Indian movies. Of these, the US and UK contribute the biggest chunk to international collections of Indian movies.

Suniel Wadhwa, Co-Founder and Director, Karmic Films said this policy shift could have profound implications for international film distribution and the global entertainment market. “This proposed move could drastically increase the cost of releasing Indian films in the US. This could also potentially discourage distributors, who acquire Indian films for release in the US on a ‘minimum guarantee’ basis. The US is among the key international markets for Indian films. This will hurt not only the Indian film industry but also fans abroad.”

So far, the United States did not impose any specific import tariffs on films. Imported films have been primarily regulated through content certification requirements to ensure they did not contain obscene or immoral material. “This regulation mandates that importers certify their films are free from such content, but it does not involve substantial financial duties. Therefore, the newly proposed 100 per cent tariff represents a significant departure from previous US trade practices concerning the film industry,” Wadhwa pointed out.

For Telugu movies, the US is a key market, contributing over 70 per cent of international collections as per some estimates, he added.

According to a FICCI-EY report, India released 339 films across 38 countries in 2023 generating a gross box office collection of ₹19 billion up 19 per cent in 2022. Pathaan, Jawan, Animal and Dangal are among the top grossers in the US and Canada region so far, as per data available on Box Office India.

Shailesh Kapoor, CEO and Co-Founder, Ormax Media said, “It will impact some of the big Hindi, Telugu and Tamil movies which get released in the US. But we have to see how it plays out in reality and whether it leads to a hike in ticket prices for foreign movies or not. It will depend on how distributors and theatres respond to this.”