Kabir Khan reacts to Trump’s 100% Tariff on foreign films: Every second Hollywood film is shot outside of the USA...

Kabir Khan on Donald Trump Tariff statement

Filmmakers across the world are raising their eyebrows — and concerns — after US President Donald Trump announced a 100% import tariff on films made outside the United States.

The unexpected move, aimed at protecting the American film industry, has caught the attention of Indian directors, including Chandu Champion’s Kabir Khan and Shaitan director Bejoy Nambiar.

Speaking to NDTV, Kabir Khan didn’t hold back when asked about Trump’s statement. He questioned how such a tariff would even work, given how global the filmmaking process has become, "I have no idea what he means when he says ‘made outside of the United States’ because every second Hollywood film is shot outside of the USA, the VFX is executed outside of the USA. And tariff on what? The ticket price? His statement is too broad to be understood properly. Firstly, let’s see if he remembers this tomorrow when he wakes up," Kabir said, clearly baffled by the ambiguity of the announcement.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Bejoy Nambiar shared a more grounded take during a conversation with News18 Showsha, pointing out that while the tariff might cause some financial headaches, Indian films aren’t exactly built with the American audience as their main target.

“America is a market for our films but I don’t think we make films primarily keeping in mind the American market. It’s another market alongside the other international sectors… our films are mainly keeping in mind the Indian audiences and the India market and of course the OTT market. Those are the biggest revenue sources for our films," he said.

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Bejoy also acknowledged that the situation could be a bump in the road, but not an unfamiliar one.
“Yes, these tariffs will adversely affect us but seeing the frequency with which every day the American government comes up with different tariffs for all different industries, I think films are another collateral that has happened. We’ll have to see how the market responds going ahead.”

Trump’s statement was posted on Truth Social, where he blamed international productions for weakening Hollywood and promised to fix the issue by taxing all foreign-made films.

For now, filmmakers — and audiences — are left wondering what this means for the future of cinema in a world where creativity no longer has borders.