The Teamsters have thrown their support behind Donald Trump‘s plan to save Hollywood, which sent most of the industry into a tizzy Monday after the President proposed 100% tariffs on movies made outside the U.S.
“We thank President Trump for boldly supporting good union jobs when others have turned their heads. This is a strong step toward finally reining in the studios’ un-American addiction to outsourcing our members’ work,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and Teamsters Motion Picture Division Director Lindsay Dougherty said in a joint statement.
As noted in the statement, the Teamsters — along with IATSE, LiUNA! and other unions that represent below-the-line workers in Hollywood — have been sounding the alarm on runaway production for years. Crews are often the most impacted by overseas production, since they are usually hired locally unlike many above-the-line workers like actors and directors.
“For years, Hollywood studios have hollowed out the industry by following Corporate America’s crooked playbook of outsourcing good union jobs. Studios chase cheap production costs overseas while gutting the American workforce that built the film and TV industry,” O’Brien and Dougherty continued in their statement. “These gigantic corporations line their pockets by recklessly cutting corners, abandoning American crews, and exploiting tax loopholes abroad. While these companies get rich fleeing to other countries and gaming the system, our members have gotten screwed over.”
It should be no surprise that the Teamsters would be among the loudest supporters of the Trump administration’s move, since the union has been leaning heavily toward the GOP in recent years. In July, O’Brien made history as the first Teamster ever to speak at the Republican National Convention, warning in his speech that his members “are not beholden to anyone or any party.”
O’Brien also said he doesn’t care “about getting criticized” for the decision to speak at the RNC, regardless of the union’s long track record of Democratic support prior to last year. The Teamsters boss did not speak at the DNC.
The Teamsters’ statement comes after both IATSE and SAG-AFTRA also offered tepid support for the President’s desire to increase production in the United States. However, IATSE made it clear that is does not support a broad tariff on international production, given that the union represents workers across both the U.S. and Canada.
Instead, IATSE President Matthew Loeb, like many others in Hollywood, called for a federal film tax credit that would incentivize studios to return, rather than penalize them. Monday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom joined the calls for a federal funding initiative, challenging the Trump administration to allocate $7.5B to a national tax incentive. Newsom’s call to action comes the Golden State moves to increase its own film and TV tax credit program to $750 million annually.
