Equity responds to Trump’s film tariff and says it is ‘industrial action ready’

The leader of performing arts and entertainment union Equity said the threat from Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on international films will not lead to a change in their “demands”.

General secretary Paul Fleming said the body is “industrial action ready” during the trade union’s annual conference in Derry on Saturday.

The union has put forward a claim for better pay, as well as regulation around the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) from the UK screen sector trade body, Pact.

“Trump’s threat of tariffs on film was met with hysteria from producers, and sent Netflix’s share price tumbling”, Mr Fleming said at a speech during the conference.

“It revealed the fragility of our own industry – how it is more dependent on cash from the US than strategy from the UK.

“We’re not changing our approach or our demands. The message is simple: we have put in the most ambitious claims for our TV and film agreements in a generation.

“Our union is industrial action ready. On dignity at work, on royalties, on artificial intelligence, on casting, and on pay: Pact and the streamers need to deliver.”

Pact, Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television, is the UK screen sector trade body for independent production and distribution companies.

Mr Fleming said: “Our members will not wait for a global stability which will not come, or a government strategy which doesn’t exist to save them.

“Our claims stand, tariff or no tariff, inflation high or low: Pact and the streamers need to meet their ambition, they don’t have a choice.”

Also at the conference, members passed a motion to campaign to save Scottish soap River City after BBC Scotland announced it would be axing the drama in 2026.

Earlier in the month, Mr Trump said he had authorised the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to impose a 100% tariff “on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands”.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries. It is not clear how a tariff on international productions could be implemented and whether such a tariff would also apply to American film companies producing films abroad.