As Donald Trump’s unprovoked trade war against the world continues, countries are starting to look to respond in ways that will erode more than just America’s bottom line. According to the Hollywood Reporter, China is looking into banning American-made films and TV shows from its market, cutting into the United States’ cultural influence.
The reporting cites two influential media figures in China, who apparently shared a very similar report at the same time. Liu Hong, a senior editor at the state-funded Xinhuanet, and Ren Yi, a major online influencer and the grandson of former Guangdong party head Ren Zhongyi. Both suggested that among a suite of retaliatory measures that the Chinese government might take in response to Trump’s tariffs, outright restricting the import of US films is on the table.
Given that the Trump administration is insisting that a 104% tariff on China will go into effect at midnight tonight, it’s probably safe to assume that China will start digging into its toolkit as it chooses how to respond. The country is also reportedly considering suspending its cooperation on dealing with fentanyl trafficking, ramping up tariffs on US agricultural exports, and launching investigations into the intellectual property of US companies operating in China, according to Bloomberg.
Hitting Hollywood is probably the most creative option on the table. Hollywood has thus far avoided getting crunched too hard by the tariffs, in part because their output is considered a service and not a good, making them exempt from the penalties. That’s not to say that the industry is untouchable, of course. A Deadline report notes that the tariffs create a lot of questions around overseas productions, as some studios may choose to forgo shooting outside of the US to avoid potentially drawing Trump’s ire. The tariffs will almost certainly squeeze budgets, too—especially for those reliant on selling advertising, as marketing tends to trend down during a recession.
China has shifted away from importing American blockbusters in recent years as it has built up its own film industry that has churned out major box office returns. But American films still do dominate globally when they make it to the big screen. The wildly successful mess that is A Minecraft Movie opened at number one at the box office in China over the weekend. American studios have also tried to pander to Chinese audiences at times in order to appeal to the nation’s excited viewers, who make up the second-largest film market in the world.
Trump’s whole deal with this trade war seems to be trying to level America’s trade deficit with foreign countries—a misguided notion given that America is a major consuming market with lots of buying power and those deficits often reflect a strong economy and not some sort of “unfairness.” Fittingly, it seems that he’s going to tank one of the industries that has produced a major trade surplus for the country, as Hollywood productions generate way more overseas than foreign films do in America.
