By Nadeem Badshah

Copyright dailystar

Donald Trump threatened to slap 100% tariffs on films made outside the US yesterday (Mon). The US president moaned that America’s movie industry has been “stolen” just like “stealing candy from a baby”. The move could cripple Hollywood’s global business model with studios relying on global box-office revenues and cross-border co-productions. Mr Trump whinged on social media platform Truth Social: “Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby.’ “California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit. “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. Thank you for your attention to this matter.” It is unclear what legal authority the US leader would use to clobber a tariff on foreign-made flicks. The ex-US Apprentice host made a similar threat in May after he branded foreign productions a “national security threat” to the American movie industry. He claimed at the time filmmakers were being wooed to other markets which was bringing “messaging and propaganda” into the States. Studio chiefs told news agency Reuters earlier this year they were “flummoxed” by how a movie tariff would be enforced as production, post-production and visual effects are often spread across multiple nations. Film and telly shows in recent years have moved from Hollywood to shoot in locations that offer lucrative tax breaks like Britain, Australia and New Zealand. And some movies are filmed overseas because the story is set there such as 2021 blockbuster Dune which was shot in Jordan and the UAE. California governor Gavin Newsom, whom Mr Trump mocked in his Truth Social post, has recently pushed to hike the state’s tax incentive program for film-makers.