Calgary's film industry left with questions after Trump threatens tariffs on non-U.S. movies

Damian Petti's phone started blowing up on Sunday evening, immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump posted his plan to impose 100 per cent tariffs on movies produced outside of the United States.

As the head of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 212, representing 1,600 members, Petti is on the receiving end of a lot of panic from those working behind the scenes of Calgary's motion picture industry.

"There is deep concern. People want answers, and when there's a shortage of answers, you sometimes get rumours and misinformation," said Petti.

In his post, Trump said he was directing the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to "immediately begin the process" of imposing the tariff. 

But Petti said it's too early to know how these tariffs — raised by Trump as a solution to help America's "dying" movie industry — would affect workers in Calgary. He said there isn't enough information about Trump's plan, and he predicts it could take weeks to figure that out.

He said he's left with many questions, like whether the tariff would apply to consumers' streaming costs or different jurisdictions' tax credits. He also wonders if Trump truly does only mean movies, or if he means all streaming content. Each scenario would have a different impact on the local industry, said Petti.

Until that's figured out, Petti said the uncertainty in itself could cause damage. That's also been the case with many other tariff-impacted industries over the past several months.

"Not knowing how this will be implemented will have an immediate effect of destabilizing production because people won't want to pull the trigger on spending, let's say, $150 million, if they don't know what their risks are," he said.

There's a similar sentiment at Calgary Economic Development.

"Not unlike the automotive sector, the movies come back and forth a couple of times before they're finalized. So it's really going to come down to the details of what this tariff could possibly be and how that could impact it," said Brad Parry, president and CEO of the Calgary agency.

"This tariff whiplash happening across multiple sectors — it makes it really hard for small businesses to understand how to plan, how to get ready."

While he doesn't have enough details yet to create a game plan, Parry said his ultimate goal is to ensure Calgary's film industry doesn't lose the momentum it's built over the years.

After a complete shutdown during the pandemic — and strikes that slowed local production a few years later — there has been general optimism for recovery in the local industry. In 2023, Alberta's film and television sector contributed roughly $450 million to the province's GDP, according to Calgary Economic Development. Most of that work happened in and around Calgary.

Earlier this year, the city placed fifth in MovieMaker Magazine's list of the best places to live and work as a filmmaker in North America.