The Teamsters are celebrating President Donald Trump’s idea to impose tariffs on films produced abroad, calling it a “strong step” toward “reining in the studios’ un-American addiction to outsourcing our members’ work.”
The statement from International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien and motion picture division director and Hollywood Teamsters leader Lindsay Dougherty came one day after Trump posted on Truth Social that he wanted to apply a “100% tariff” on “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
The labor leaders framed Trump’s idea as a pro-labor move that would benefit American production workers whose livelihoods have been jeopardized by accelerated offshoring of entertainment work. “These gigantic corporations line their pockets by recklessly cutting corners, abandoning American crews and exploiting tax loopholes abroad. While these companies get rich fleeing to other countries and gaming the system, our members have gotten screwed over,” the statement read.
“If studios want to benefit from American box offices, they must invest in American workers. We thank President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads.”
The Teamsters’ statement represented the most positive Hollywood union reaction yet to Trump’s idea, the details of which have not been ironed out. On Monday, the White House stated that “no final decisions” have been made about the tariffs as questions have emerged about how a tariff like this could be executed and which projects it would apply to.
More to come.