Posted in: ABC, Current News, Max, Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: canada, donald trump, trump

TV Turmoil: Trump Tariffs Threat to Red & Blue States' Productions

Donald Trump's planned 25% tariffs on goods from Canada could end up driving more TV productions north, hurting Blue States and Red States.

Disney down 1.5%. Warner Bros. Discovery down 3.6%. Comcast down 0.8%. Paramount Global down 1.6%. Netflix down 0.2%. Even Trump Media & Technology Group – down more than 4%. When the markets opened this morning, it was clear that POTUS Donald Trump's impending tariffs were on a lot of people's minds – and making a number of folks in the entertainment industry understandably nervous. Unless something changes between now and then, Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday that would impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on goods from China. In response, Mexico, Canada, and China have announced higher tariffs against U.S. goods and services in response – with many of the economic sanctions focused on Trump-supporting states (Red States). To say that a sustained tariff war will negatively impact a whole lot of folks in a whole lot of ways would be an understatement – and that includes U.S. television productions.

It's no secret that Hollywood has a long history of filming in Canada – especially in Toronto and Vancouver – in large part because it's much more budget-friendly in terms of costs. If Trump's tariffs end up driving the value of the Canadian dollar (the loonie) against the U.S. dollar to 70 cents or lower (a realistic possibility based on current market value), that could lead to a rush by not just large-scale productions but also middle-scale and indie productions to leave the U.S. and look north to get the most out of their filming budgets. Even if it's not for filming, a depressed Canadian dollar would incentivize U.S. studios to look to our neighbors to the north for post-production work.

None of that is good news to California – or Texas. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom's efforts to offer financial incentives to bring back film and television productions to the state are being met by a number of other states that are looking to bring some of that Hollywood magic (and money) across their state lines. In addition, there are the tragic realities of the past several weeks, with windstorms and wildfires devastating the Los Angeles area – making the need for increased production in the state vital to the long-term rebuilding efforts.

As we saw at the end of January, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger were pushing the Texas legislature to pass a budget that would revamp the Texas Film Inventive – even putting out a four-minute promo video (with McConaughey and Harrelson going "'True Detective'-esque") to also signal to Hollywood that the Lone Star State has a lot to offer filming-wise (and a lot of local businesses that could use the business that a filming production can bring). As California (Blue State) struggles to bring production back and Texas (Red State) pushes to make the state a major player in the television production game, Trump has taken the Canadian option and given it a shot of adrenaline – which could result in more productions ditching both Red States and Blue States for our neighbors to the north.

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