SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator has weighed in on President Donald Trump’s idea to apply tariffs to films produced outside the U.S. — and signaled an open mind about it.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the staff leader of the 160,000-strong performers’ union, said in a statement on Monday that “SAG-AFTRA supports efforts to increase movie, television and streaming production in the United States.” Crabtree-Ireland noted that the union will continue to “advocate for policies that strengthen our competitive position, accelerate economic growth and create good middle class jobs for American workers.”
The labor leader added that the union is looking forward to learning more specifics of the plan and to “advancing a dialogue to achieve our common goals.”
Crabtree-Ireland is the first out of the gate amongst Hollywood’s labor leaders to publicly respond to the notion that Trump put forward in a Truth Social post on Sunday. At the time, Trump called for a “100% tariff” on “any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” Trump did not mention television shows or digital media projects in his post.
The White House later walked that assertion back a bit, with a White House spokesperson telling The Hollywood Reporter that “no final decisions” have been made regarding the tariffs idea.
Hollywood industry leaders, including some in labor, have been reeling following Trump’s Sunday announcement. Several unions had been working on potential legislation to create a federal tax incentive for U.S.-produced projects and were focused on that effort when Trump’s tariffs message came through.
More to come.
