Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker as he ramps up trade disputes with nations around the world Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was authorising the US Department of Commerce and Trade Representative to start the process to impose the levy because America's movie industry was dying "a very fast death" He later said he would consult Hollywood executives to see if "they're happy" with his proposal after the news sent shockwaves through the industry So what might this mean for both the US film industry and the global movie business Trump declared that Hollywood was "dying" It's true that the industry has been through a really rough time in recent years The pandemic saw production close down and the impact is ongoing Hollywood studios spent $11.3 billion on productions in the second quarter of 2024, a 20% drop from the same period in 2022 as studios continued to cut costs in an attempt to recover from Covid losses Any shoots of recovery were then severely stifled by the 2023 actors and writers strikes Then the wildfires struck earlier this year more and more people - not just youngsters - have been turning to YouTube and other streaming platforms for content The US remains a major film production hub and according to Variety 2025 has seen a rebound in box office numbers since last year with overall domestic revenues up 15.8% on 2024 so far The latest Marvel superhero film, Thunderbolts*, topped the North American box office this weekend marking a promising start to the summer season But Hollywood is definitely still up against it Watch Trump on non-US movie tariffs: 'Hollywood is being destroyed'The president says he wants to "immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands We want movies made in America again!" This has led to questions about whether the tariffs would also apply to American film companies producing films abroad Several recent major movies produced by US studios were shot outside America Hit franchises like Mission Impossible also shoot overseas We also don't yet know if the tariffs will be applied retrospectively Trump later told reporters that "other nations have been stealing the movies and movie-making capabilities from the United States" which may suggest he was only referring to non-US films White House spokesman Kush Desai told the BBC that "no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made" and added that the administration is "exploring all options" Many countries offer tax breaks to encourage film production such as New Zealand Australia and the UK and that's something Trump wants to take on But it's not the only reason a US film company might wish to film abroad Some choose to do so for the specific location Who could forget Tom Cruise's ascent of the Burj Khalifa What could it mean for the next James Bond movie but based on an iconic British character who works for MI6 And it's not just other countries that offer incentives - other US states are luring film production away from Hollywood Illinois and Kentucky are among the many other US states which California are now competing with who Trump described as "grossly incompetent" when speaking about the movie tariffs on Monday is currently pushing for his plan to more than double the state's film and TV tax incentives to $750 million annually While Newsom has made no comment yet on Trump's proposal, his senior communications advisor told Deadline: "We believe he has no authority to impose tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, since tariffs are not listed as a remedy under that law." There are more questions than answers at this stage. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has a moratorium on tariffs for digital goods until 2026. Presumably films count as digital goods. And what would they base the tariffs on? Box office revenue or production costs? Is streaming content included? That would have a huge impact on US companies like Netflix. What about post-production ie editing? Tim Richards, Vue Entertainment CEO and founder, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "A big part of this is what constitutes US film - is it where the money comes from, the script, the director, the talent, where it was shot?" And how do you even classify a foreign film when so many are co-productions and are often shot in several countries? Trump appeared to be talking about film and not TV but it's not 100% clear at this stage. Would tariffs apply to films made for streaming or just cinema releases? We'll have to wait for more detail. And of course, Trump may rollback on the proposals as he has done with some other tariffs. Obviously, putting a 100% tariff on foreign films means a huge cost increase for those production companies who want to sell to the US market. Commenting on Trump's announcement, the UK government's Culture Media and Sport Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage MP said: "Last month the Culture, Media and Sport Committee warned against complacency on our status as the Hollywood of Europe. President Trump's announcement has made that warning all too real. "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 under way." Head of media and entertainment trade union Bectu in the UK, Philippa Childs, said in a statement: "These tariffs, coming after Covid and the recent slowdown, could deal a knock-out blow to an industry that is only just recovering and will be really worrying news for tens of thousands of skilled freelancers who make films in the UK." Kirsty Bell, chief executive of production company Goldfinch, questioned how the tariffs would work, pointing out that blockbusters like Barbie, which was distributed by US film studio Warner Bros Pictures, "was actually shot virtually entirely in the UK". "If those US films don't get partly produced or produced in the UK, freelancers are going to be jobless. I'm telling you now, they really are going to be jobless," she told PA. The governments of Australia and New Zealand have also spoken out in support of their countries' film industries. "Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry," Australia's home affairs minister Tony Burke said. New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told a news conference that his government was awaiting further details of the proposed tariffs. "But we'll be obviously a great advocate, great champion of that sector and that industry," he added. And with the Cannes film festival just around the corner, uncertainty hangs in the air with many US film producers looking to sell foreign distribution rights. Tariffs could incentivise US film companies to make more films on home soil but the risk is that if it's more expensive than to do so abroad, some films just won't get made. More incentives or rebates could help offset this but we just don't know at this stage if that's under discussion on a national scale. NPR Radio film critic Eric Deggans warned that the tariffs, should they be introduced, could further harm the industry. Other countries may respond by placing tariffs on American films, he told the BBC, making it "harder for these films to make profits overseas". "It may create a situation where the tariffs in America are causing more harm than good," he added. US officials say the incentive offers a "dignified" exit from the country for those who are there illegally. What Canada's Mark Carney can expect when he meets TrumpThe BBC's Anthony Zurcher looks at how past Oval Office meetings could set the tone for the prime minister's visit to Washington. Experts say the federal government would have to overcome enormous hurdles to make the facility operational again. The president blamed foreign-made movies for the American film industry's "very fast death". '#' : location.hash;window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery = location.search === '' && location.href.slice(0 location.href.length - window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash.length).indexOf('?') !== -1 '?' : location.search;if (window.history && window.history.replaceState) {var ogU = location.pathname + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUQuery + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash;history.replaceState(null "\/liveblog_entry\/smotrich-idf-wont-withdraw-from-gaza-even-for-a-hostage-deal-israelis-should-embrace-the-word-occupation\/?__cf_chl_rt_tk=zHaFFLGv1WYIwOIJDd5CL_20xpoZ0.6qT0iBn.yxpyo-1746528932-1.0.1.1-RxtqgwpNV0A5D0djs9X6uHk4TZiADbSHIOvdXF7kwDI" + window._cf_chl_opt.cOgUHash);cpo.onload = function() {history.replaceState(null ogU);}}document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(cpo);}()); Al Mayadeen reports ■ SYRIA: IDF planes deliver humanitarian aid to Druze residents of southern Syria ■ YEMEN: Houthis say U.S attacking for first time since Ben-Gurion Airport missile ISRAEL: Official: Netanyahu said Gaza plan involves 'occupation of territory and sustained Israeli presence' ■ GAZA: Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 15 Click here for updates from Day 578 of the war DHS claims payment will be issued after individuals leave the US and it has been confirmed through their app The Trump administration has announced a new program offering a $1,000 payment to people in the US without immigration status as an incentive to return to their home country voluntarily The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) outlined the initiative on Monday, pledging “financial and travel assistance” to undocumented immigrants who agree to leave the country using an app called CBP Home Read moreThe agency claimed that the $1,000 payment would be issued only after the individual has returned to their home country and it has been confirmed through the app. DHS made the announcement in a news release emphasizing many of the terms favored by the administration in its hardline anti-immigration policy “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” said Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary. In the news release, DHS stated that one individual had already participated in the program, receiving a plane ticket for a flight from Chicago to Honduras, and “additional tickets have already been booked for this week and the following week”. The department estimates that even with the cost of the stipend, the program “will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70%”. Currently, the DHS claims, the average cost to arrest, detain and deport someone from the US is $17,121. The agency also stated in the announcement that individuals who use the CBP Home app to declare their intent to leave the US will be “deprioritized for detention and removal ahead of their departure as long as they demonstrate they are making meaningful strides in completing that departure”. The DHS further claimed that participation in the program “may help preserve the option” for an individual to re-enter the US “legally in the future”. On Monday afternoon, Trump pushed similar claims, telling reporters from the Oval Office: “We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in if they’re good people.” Read moreBut critics sounded the alarm “It is an incredibly cruel bit of deception for DHS to be telling people that if they leave they ‘will maintain the ability to return to the US legally in the future’,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council “Many people who might see this as an option would be put in a WORSE OFF legal position The new initiative, centered on the Trump administration’s concept of “self-deportation” – which is the notion that conditions in the US can be made so unbearable for undocumented immigrants that they will choose to leave – is their latest action to crack down on immigration Its buildings dominate the craggy landscape of Alcatraz Island which lies about 1.5 miles north of San Francisco's famed Fisherman's Wharf Alcatraz once housed dangerous criminals such as the infamous mobster Al Capone under an incarceration strategy that sought to concentrate difficult prisoners in one facility segregating them from less dangerous inmates in the prison system Trump's message suggests he wants to restore Alcatraz to its original dual purpose. The twin goals for building the original prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons were "to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons and to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious" about stopping rampant crime in the 1920s and 1930s." AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!" the president said on Truth Social "The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law Trump did not provide details about a timeline for reopening the prison the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service referred NPR to the president's statement Asked on Monday about his idea to reopen Alcatraz "I guess I was supposed to be a movie maker," noting the prison's long history adding that no one ever successfully escaped from the prison Enacting Trump's proposal would come with a steep price tag both for constructing and operating a new prison facility on an island whose most plentiful natural resource is sandstone Alcatraz was shuttered "because the institution was too expensive to continue operating," according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons It said operating the island prison was nearly three times more expensive than any other federal prison at the time "This isolation meant that everything (food fuel...) had to be brought to Alcatraz by boat," the bureau says so nearly one million gallons of water had to be barged to the island each week." If the Trump administration tries to rebuild a prison on the island historian Jolene Babyak says it will need to solve long-running infrastructure challenges "My reaction was two words: water and sewage," she says "Those are two reasons why it would be impractical" to restore the facility as a working prison "All of the sewage in those days was dumped in the bay," she says of the years when hundreds of inmates and staff lived on the island It was depicted as being full of the country's worst criminals offering harsh conditions and virtually no hope of escape averaging 260 to 275 inmates — less than 1% of the total federal prison population at the time And while it was designed around strict rules the penitentiary's reputation was more nuanced "Many prisoners actually considered the living conditions (for instance always one man to a cell) at Alcatraz to be better than other Federal prisons and several inmates actually requested a transfer to Alcatraz," the bureau states The prison's staff lived on the island with their families, and children were ferried to San Francisco on school days, according to the National Park Service who grew up to become a historian studying the island prison where she once lived due to her father's work as an administrator there Everybody bragged about it," she tells NPR noting that an early warden at the prison had prioritized using the promise of good food as a way to motivate inmates to follow the rules The penitentiary did hold infamous criminals such as Capone; George "Machine Gun" Kelly; and Alvin Karpis and Arthur "Doc" Barker But while some inmates were sent to Alcatraz because they were considered dangerous and/or escape risks others spent shorter stints at the highly structured prison "Once prison officials felt a man no longer posed a threat and could follow the rules (usually after an average of five years on Alcatraz)," the prisons bureau says "he could then be transferred back to another Federal prison to finish his sentence and be released." Kennedy closed the federal penitentiary in 1963 Alcatraz is currently a museum administered by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area since 1972 the NPS says it "represents the federal government's response to post-Prohibition Both the institution and the men confined within its walls reflect our society during this era." The original impetus for creating the Alcatraz prison, the park service says government's desire to create a "high-profile prison that represented the Justice Department's response to fears around public safety and organized crime." Alcatraz "served as an experiment" in handling problematic inmates "The model they developed on Alcatraz would later serve as a blueprint for the high security federal prison located in Marion Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has unveiled a string of high-profile initiatives that he says will protect public safety and also crack down on unlawful immigration. They include deporting immigrants — and potentially citizens — to a maximum security prison in El Salvador Alcatraz was initially viewed as a defense outpost in San Francisco Bay when it was brought under federal control by President Millard Fillmore in 1850 Groups housed there include: captured Confederates in the 1860s; members of the Hopi Tribe in the 1890s; and prisoners from the 1898 Spanish-American War In the early 1900s, it became the site of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks for the U.S. Army. In 1933, "the island was transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice for use by the Federal Bureau of Prisons," according to the Bureau of Prisons Alcatraz Island is now a popular National Park Service site that's been open to the public since 1973 NPR's Scott Neuman contributed to this report Become an NPR sponsor