U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat on Monday has prompted uncertainty in B.C.’s film industry.
Among others, the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is not happy with Trump’s threat to impose a 100 per cent tariff on movies made outside the United States.
“It’s really unclear what exactly it means and what the implications are going to be for everyone. So yeah, disappointed for sure,” said Kyle Fostner, the executive director of the VIFF, to CityNews.
Fostner questions how such a tariff could even be implemented.
“Whether it’s a matter of shooting in another location or bringing in talent from around the world or bringing American IP and shooting it in other countries, it’s not how film and television are created anymore,” he explained.
“So, it is a broad-brush of paint that is wildly out of step with reality.”
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B.C.’s Minister of Jobs, Ravi Kahlon, says the province will support the tens of thousands of people who work in the local film industry.
He also urges the southern neighbour to remember that those relationships are a two-way street.
“And the reality is, the film industry from the U.S. doesn’t come up here to British Columbia to do us favors. They come up here because we have the best crews. We have professionals who are really good at what they do,” Kahlon told CityNews.
In his social media post from Monday, Trump claimed that “our movie-making business has been stolen from the United States of America by other countries, just like stealing candy from a baby.”
Trump made a similar threat back in May, but he did not provide any additional information on how or when this could happen.
“We hear threats like this weekly, sometimes daily, and sometimes multiple times in one day. So, it’s hard to know, but we take all the threats coming out of the US administration very seriously,” Kahlon said.