Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’ • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#301

Post by jaimebuelta » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:47 PM UTC

dagw wrote: post #202

KingOfCoders wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Growing up in the 70s and 80s in Germany, I've been brainwashed by US movies and sitcoms, 90% of the things I've watched was from the US - Magnum P.I, Simon & Simon, The Fall Guy, Kojak, A-Team, Golden Girls, Mary Taylor Moore, Lou Grant, MacGyver, Knight Rider, Night Court, Family Ties, Miami Vice, The Wonder Years, Facts of Life, Love Boat, and on and on and on. I know the US better than many parts of Germany.

I know the US better than many parts of Germany I read an article years ago from a lawyer (might have been a judge) complaining that, thanks to US TV and movies, people in Sweden know more about how the US justice system works than the Swedish system. Far too many people just fall back on their US TV knowledge of how they think courts work and that they keep having to explain to the people that, no that's not how thi…

There was a viral clip of someone in a Spanish court saying “objection!”, and the lawyer saying “that’s in the American systems, in the movies!”

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#302

Post by viraptor » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:47 PM UTC

lm28469 wrote: post #118

solumunus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a meaningful fight look like?

idk man last time France raised the gas price by like 10% people were in the streets every weekend for a year, often blocking highways, warehouses, at its peak ~3 million people were in the streets, they got so close to Macron's castle he had his helicopter prepared to flee the capital It ended up with 11 deaths, thousands of injured, thousands of people were arrested hundreds went to jail. Look at Serbia, Greece, da…

Although the precise numbers are uncertain, the Hands Off protests have definitely crossed 2M in the US already. We'll see if they stop or not.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#303

Post by Spooky23 » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:47 PM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #111

almostgotcaught wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And removing fluoride from the water

Why does American drinking water need fluoride - for the few seconds people brush their teeth? Other developed nations seem to do get by just fine without it (i.e, most of Europe). Does modern tooth paste not contain the components for proper cleaning? I feel like I'm missing something here, because I don't swallow my tooth paste but I drink my tap water. But if fluoride is fine in water that we drink, why not just a…

Because just like we have stupid people who don’t vaccinate their children from measles, we have stupid people who don’t make them brush their teeth.

So rather than have them suffer with a lifetime of oral health problems, you can intervene in a transparent and cheap way to prevent these issues altogether.

The introduction of fluoride dramatically improved oral health. NYC has been doing it since the 1960s, so one would think we’d see evidence of the supposed negative effects.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#304

Post by unsupp0rted » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:50 PM UTC

maeln wrote: post #284

unsupp0rted wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Predictably, commenters read the word "most" as "every". Most non-American movies are melodramatic slop, vaudeville slapstick or heart-wrenching soul-destroyers. Oh really? Well I found one in China that isn't. And here's one from 1970s France that isn't.

There were several from China to be exact (Hong Kong to be precise, which had its own cinema golden-era between the late 80'and early 00'), and more than one from France also, some of which are more contemporary :) . Most movie everywhere are not masterpiece, incredible contribution to the art, tasteful and original. They are easy, made to profit, amateurish, etc. That is true for every art form. Again, yes the US be…

> https://youtu.be/R5eefu7wjbw

Vaudeville slapstick

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq9wIQ243f8

Melodramatic poorly acted, over-choreographed, stunt wire work. Might as well be a dance or a cartoon. At least in the Matrix homage to this genre, there was some diegetic explanation for why the characters appeared to be throwing each other around on wires.

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z0XBq74c0w

A 1964 film where every line is sung? You got me there. Chalk one up for the appeal of international cinema over Hollywood.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#305

Post by Bluestrike2 » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:51 PM UTC

I realize it's just another hair-brained scheme likely cooked up on the porcelain throne, but part of me is curious about how exactly they'd implement this train wreck.

Since Trump is relying on declarations of national emergencies for his tariffs, there's the question whether it's even legal given that Berman Amendments to the IEEPA[0] explicitly exempt "informational materials, including but not limited to, publications, *films*, posters, phonograph records, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, tapes, compact disks, CD ROMs, artworks, and news wire feeds" from the President's authority under IEEPA.[1]

Even if we set that aside and ignore the likely legal challenges, how would you actually implement them? It's not like a movie or TV episode "produced" overseas gets transmitted into the US each time somebody wants to watch it. It's a digital file, and you're really only sending it once. So when do you tariff the damn thing, how do you manage to actually do it since there's not exactly a literal port of entry for the internet, and what exactly do you value it at? The system isn't built to track and tariff info being uploaded to random servers, and making it work would require all sorts of new law.

Plus, what's the legal definition of "production" he wants to use? What constitutes foreign production? Can some of the producing just be done remotely? What if raw footage is uploaded instead and then it's edited here? Or a nearly finished copy that just needs something minor done to be considered ready? Hollywood accountants are in a league of their own. Put them in a room with lawyers and accountants whose focus is the creative eccentricities of tariff engineering--hello, chicken tax people[0]--and I shudder to imagine what they'd get up to.

We're only a few months in at this point, and I feel like I'm losing my mind.

0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Emergency_Econom...

1. https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/2333...

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#306

Post by Spooky23 » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:51 PM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #302

lm28469 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

idk man last time France raised the gas price by like 10% people were in the streets every weekend for a year, often blocking highways, warehouses, at its peak ~3 million people were in the streets, they got so close to Macron's castle he had his helicopter prepared to flee the capital It ended up with 11 deaths, thousands of injured, thousands of people were arrested hundreds went to jail. Look at Serbia, Greece, da…

Although the precise numbers are uncertain, the Hands Off protests have definitely crossed 2M in the US already. We'll see if they stop or not.

The current protests are terrible. The loudest mobilized voices are the pro-Palestinian people, who are a wet blanket on a protest as they don’t have wide support.

We need more angrier people.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#307

Post by ecocentrik » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:53 PM UTC

habosa wrote: post #77

The MAGA people attacking Hollywood is such a big mistake. Yes I know the average celebrity doesn’t share their views, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hollywood projects American culture around the world in a way that the government could never do itself. Movies and music made here are so often cited as the reason why young people around the world idealize America and want to emulate us (buy our clothes, speak…

Hollywood made a few anti-fascist, anti-Nazi exploitation movies last year with big name actors and directors. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Freaky Tales are two that stand out. Hollywood is pro queer, pro minority and pro free speech. MAGA hates it all and would happily destroy it. It's not stupid, it's their vision for the country and they want to project that vision to the rest of the world. They don't want the world to think of the US as an inviting place where anyone can pursue the American dream, where the government fights for the rights of the downtrodden, politically oppressed and abused and acts like the global stabilizing hand exchanging trade for peace and prosperity. For the MAGA faithful, those days are over, the country is full and it's time to reestablish Anglo-Christian dominance. Their game plan is economic and political isolation, the erosion of democracy and the end of the global unity narrative.

Cutting off Hollywood from its funding sources is part of the plan. MAGA controlled states cancelled tax breaks and subsidies for film/tv production years ago, in some cases torpedoing billions in investment in new studios. This isn't a new strategy, this is the amplification of an existing strategy.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#308

Post by peder » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:54 PM UTC

vanjajaja1 wrote: post #196

peder wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This tariff isn't an attack on Hollywood. This helps actors and staff in the Hollywood area.

its very likely to cause reciprocal tariffs though, and exports of Hollywood way out weigh the imports of foreign films

There are big issues with foreign cinema. We still have a lot of structural advantages in the US to producing films. Production has shifted to other countries because of significant tax incentives. These tax incentives are a way that other countries are frankly not playing fair.

The bottom line for me is that we shouldn't simply accept that films should all be filmed in Canada, Australia, the UK, or elsewhere. Hollywood has been the epicenter of creative jobs in this country for a century, and we should try to preserve it.

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#309

Post by alexpotato » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:54 PM UTC

fellerts wrote: post #223

alexpotato wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a claim at one point that, due to the popularity of American TV shows in Europe, during household emergencies kids were calling 911 instead of the local version (e.g. it's 999 in some European countries)

I'd expect 911 to redirect to one of the emergency services in most/all European countries, no?

This is probably the case now as my original post was referring to a situation about 20 years ago (should have clarified)

Re: Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’

#310

Post by Spooky23 » Mon, May 05, 2025, 12:54 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #187

andrewinardeer wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court so there is exactly zero percent chance of anyone from the GOP appearing at The Hague.

They are not, yet . Assuming there will be a free and fair election in which the Democrats win, it would be a sensible move to repeal the Hague Invasion Act, ratify the Rome Statute and refer all of the 47th's admin's key figures there - that avoids any possible issues with the Supreme Court. Additionally, it would restore a bit of global confidence in the ICC and America's credibility on the global stage as well...…

The constitution prohibits ex post facto prosecution.

Assuming that we continue to elect presidents, you need one to appoint an effective Attorney General (ie not Garland) and use these new king like powers of the executive to smash. The president was convicted of dozens of crimes, but nobody had the balls to throw him in jail.

You have to think about 2025 solutions. The die is cast, it isn’t 1995 anymore. Nobody is clutching their pearls because POTUS made a mess on an intern anymore. It’s a different environment and you’re going to have to have fistfights on the Senate floor if the congress is functioning.