Disney Stock Falls as President Trump Announces More Tariffs

By Colette Langley 1 Comment

Disney stock fell this morning, May 5th, after President Trump announced additional tariffs that could impact the movie industry. According to Variety, Disney wasn’t the only stock impacted by his announcement on Sunday via his social media platform, Truth Social.

©Disney

Other stocks, including Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Lionsgate Studios, all saw a decline as the stock market opened on Monday. These declines come as a result of President Trump vowing to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films.

On Monday morning, May 5th, numerous entertainment companies saw their stock fall as Trump announced his intention to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films. Disney saw a decline of 2.4% in its stock price. Netflix saw a 3.3% decline, Warner Bros. Discovery saw a 4.2% decline, Paramount declined by 2.2%, and Lionsgate fell more than 7% as the stock market opened.

Walt Disney Company Headquarters in Burbank

However, while stocks saw a significant decline at market opening this morning, many unanswered questions remain about President Trump’s newest set of tariffs. President Trump has authorized the “Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” It is unclear, though, exactly what will constitute a movie that is “produced in Foreign Lands” and how those tariffs would be assessed. Currently, movies are usually written, produced, filmed, and edited in a variety of countries, so what would determine if a movie is foreign-produced?

©Disney

We also don’t know yet if these tariffs would also extend to TV productions. Currently, we only have the one social media post made by President Trump on Truth Social to understand these tariffs. These tariffs could have a huge impact on the movie industry, depending on how and if they are implemented. According to the Motion Picture Association, in 2023, the “American movie industry had $22.6 billion in exports and an overall $15.3 billion trade surplus.”