1 week Ago By Abid Rahman
It’s official: China is set to reduce the number of Hollywood films it imports in response to an escalating tariff war with the U.S. and will look to increase film imports from other countries.
The China Film Administration (CFA), the body that handles film releases and quotas in the country, released a statement on Thursday in response to a reporter’s question about whether the Trump administration’s increasing tariffs on China would impact imports of American films. A spokesperson for the CFA said that the U.S.
government had made the wrong move to “abuse tariffs on China” and that the situation “will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favorability towards American films.” The statement added, “We will follow market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported. China is the world’s second-largest film market.
We have always adhered to a high level of opening up to the outside world and will introduce more excellent films from the world to meet market demand.” The move to reduce American film imports comes as Trump increased tariffs on China to 125 percent on Wednesday. China hit back on Thursday with tariffs of 84 percent on American goods.
On Tuesday, reports from China suggested that the country was mulling a ban or a reduction on the number of Hollywood films. Speculation had increased after two widely followed Chinese public figures — one an editor for a state media outlet, the other the son of a former party chief — released identical outlines on Tuesday of countermeasures Chinese authorities are said to be considering in response to Trump’s tariffs, and their outlines included bans on American films. Under current trade agreements, China committed to releasing 34 foreign films per year under revenue-share terms, with overseas studios permitted to a 25 percent share of ticket sales.
.
