SPOILER ALERT: THIS ARTICLE REVEALS THE IDENTITY OF THE REAL VILLAIN

Just this morning, US President Donald Trump (pictured above just over a month ago, upon kickstarting his infamous tariff war with just about every nation and island on earth, including those uniquely inhabited by penguins) announced a whopping 100% duty on films made on “foreign lands” (in other words, movies produced anywhere outside the United States). He then asked the Commerce Secretary to implement the levies immediately. He also claimed that foreign films represented a “national security threat”, and that “Hollywood is being destroyed”, before controversially stating that “Other nations have stolen our movie industry”.

The details of the trade regulations are yet to be revealed. It remains unclear how this bizarre tariff will affected American co-productions partly made on alien soil. And this is just one of the many complexities with which Trump’s latest off-the-cuff measure will have to grapple.

The UK film industry, which is heavily reliant on American studios and audiences, immediately panicked. According to the Guardian, Caroline Dinenage, the chair of the culture, media and sport committee, said: “last month the culture, media and sport committee warned against complacency on our status as the Hollywood of Europe. President Trump’s announcement has made that warning all too real”. James Frith, a Labour member of the same committee, was a little less self-defeating: “any US tariffs on foreign-made films would harm not just British jobs and creativity, but also the US studios and audiences who rely on our skilled workforce and production expertise”.

Trump’s tariffs are doomed to backfire. While the UK may not possess the same resolve and determination as China when dealing with the American President (Xi Jinping boasts the patience and elegance of a labrador retriever; Keir Starmer’s sycophancy makes him resemble a dishevelled lapdog), there is little doubt that the industry and indeed the consumers will quickly react. Should neither Trump drop the tariffs (as he eventually did with China) nor the UK government retaliate with a like-for-like percentage on American films reaching British soil (very unlikely happen, given this government’s grovelling attitude towards our “special friends”), it is the American industry that will suffer the money. In addition to the limited access to British talent and know-how, film buyers and film lovers (starting with his humble writer) will turn away from American films.

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An irreparable fate

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the United States has used cinema as a geopolitical weapon to outstanding results. They mastered the art of selling national supremacy hegemony on celluloid. In other words, imperialistic propaganda,. This includes classics such as Birth of a Nation (DW Griffith, 1915), American Sniper (Clint Eastwood, 20114), franchises such as Rambo and Rocky, as well as more recent creations Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023; pictured above) and Captain America: Brave New World (Julius Onah, 2025).

These are narratives that glorify US exceptionalism, portray the American army as strong and virtuous, and present American pop culture as fashionable and mandatory. Disguised under the cloak of harless entertainment, these films promote the idea that the United States are the biggest force of good in the world, and that pretty much everyone else (Russians, Germans, the Chinese) are villains that must be defeated. The British are likeable enough however mostly inept and/or anodyne (incapable of acting on their own).

Trump has decided to go one step further. Instead of just lacing narratives with imperialistic vitriol, he seeks to trample on anything that isn’t created on American soil. Commercial recklessness replaces ideology. Bullying substitutes negotiation. Lunacy supplants sanctimoniousness. The cat is finally out of the bag: the United States are the real villains. The Orange Hitler is the caricatural movie character that will do anything – however frivolous and absurd – in order to reach his very selfish objectives. Fortunately for all of us, everyone knows what happens to the bad guy at the end of the story.