China May Ban Hollywood Movies as Tariff War with Trump Escalates

The tariff war between the Trump administration and the Chinese government seems nowhere near an end. On Thursday, Trump raised the tariff on some Chinese imports to 145% while China slapped back with 125% tariff on American goods. Only time will tell who blinks first in this tug of tariff, but the nucleus of American entertainment is in the crosshairs of China as retaliation for Trump’s tariffs – Hollywood.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news to American audiences on Tuesday (April 8) citing two influential Chinese public figures that China’s upcoming countermeasures against Trump’s tariff hike include reducing or completely banning the import of U.S. films. The story wrote:

Both figures attributed the outlined proposals to unnamed sources familiar with authorities’ planning. Bloomberg News was the first Western outlet to cover their statements.

The story noted that while Hollywood gets a limited number of movies released in Chinese theatres each year, losing access to Chinese market could still “ding the studios’ bottom lines.” 

During a press conference on Thursday, President Trump was asked about his reaction to China’s move to target America’s cultural exports like movies. Many people in attendance chuckled as Trump brushed it off with his familiar wit: “I think I’ve heard of worse things.”

Reporting the story, Fox News wrote that revenues from Hollywood movies have been declining in China already as the Chinese have increasingly been watching their domestic productions in theatres. Hence, the impact of the new restrictions would be minimal on Hollywood.

Hollywood movies now only account for 5% of the overall box office receipts in China. Hollywood studios also only receive 25% of ticket sales in China, though in other markets, they take in double their profits.

Regtechtimes wrote (April 11) that China’s move to restrict Hollywood movies seems powerful and serious on the outside without a big financial impact on Hollywood.

The average conservative American, meanwhile, is long done with most of Hollywood movies and celebrities. The leftist political ideology of Hollywood’s big names and production companies has pervaded the movies made by them, thus alienating the American families that want to keep woke culture away from their lives. As a MAGA conservative’s account on X, TheLizVariant, put it:

“Nothing screams “winning” like China slamming the door on Hollywood’s elitist nonsense. Real Americans? We’ve been skipping that shit for years, no ban needed.”  

https://twitter.com/TheLizVariant/status/1910466812413702273

Conservative actress and screenwriter Colette Harrington expressed the same sentiment and wrote on her X page:

“Thank-you China for banning Hollywood films. We hate them too.”

https://twitter.com/sweetcarolinatv/status/1910697809839337798