International Tax Panorama

President Donald Trump announced this week his intention to implement a 100% tariff on all foreign-made films in order to promote domestic production in Hollywood and other filmmaking cities.

In a social media post Monday morning, Trump lamented the “United States movie making business,” claiming it had been “stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’”

“Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States,” he wrote.

But one impact could be on ticket prices if producers pass on the tax burden to consumers.

The Indian diaspora in the US spends around $100 million a year to watch Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali and other Indian language movies released in the US country, according to the Producers Guild of India.

Indians are about 1.6% of the total US population, with other South Asians also being audiences of Indian language movies, such as Pakistanis for Punjabi and Hindi, Bangladeshi for Bengali, or Lankan Tamils, besides locals who enjoy diverse films.

What the distributors are saying is that, for example… you have bought a film for ₹5 crore to screen in the US, then you will have to end up giving ₹10 crore. And suppose the average price of a ticket in the US is $10-15 right now, that will be increased to around $20-30 — straight double.

There are growing concerns that the U.S. move could spark retaliatory tariffs, impacting not just Indian exports but the Hollywood films that dominate Indian screens.