‘The Apprentice’ Producer Sees Trump’s Hollywood Tariffs as “Storytelling Tool” to Buttress Presidential Infallibility

Daniel Bekerman, producer of the Donald Trump film The Apprentice, has a different take to much of the global entertainment industry left reeling by the U.S. president threatening a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made movies.

Bekerman sees the film tariff as less of an economic tool to bring jobs and moviemaking back to Hollywood, and more of a storytelling tool by Trump to keep alive his own image as an infallible deal-maker ever on the attack and counter-attack. “When it comes to Trump talking about film tariffs in the film industry, now he’s actually come home, because this industry is where his skill set resides,” Bekerman tells The Hollywood Reporter about a Hollywood filled with stars, moguls and directors equally adept at master storytelling.

“Tariffs … are a narrative tool that supports his story that he’s been telling for 50 years, since he met Roy Cohn. And the story is about the character named Donald Trump, and it strengthens that story because it says, ‘Look how much I’m protecting you, and I’m the only person who can solve these things. I’m the only one who can save you,’” he says.

In The Apprentice, directed by Ali Abbasi, legendary hitman lawyer Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong, teaches a young Trump (Sebastian Stan) the rules for victory in business and life. And Bekerman, insisting he is ever the optimist, adds that he sees Trump’s talk over the weekend about a 100 percent film tariff as something an entertainment industry built on reacting to instability and change can build on.

“I’m always looking for a positive. Yes, the announcement on the weekend was jarring. If that were to be enacted, it would be very destabilizing in every territory, including the U.S. But for this industry, destabilization, that’s where we live. That’s a skill set we know how to deal with,” Bekerman argues.

But in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s movie tariffs talk, the rest of the Canadian film industry hasn’t shared Bekerman’s optimism as it weighs the potential impact of a steep import levy on foreign-made films on an increasingly global business.

ACTRA, Canada’s actors union, said the proposed film tariff threatens the country’s production sector, which depends heavily on major Hollywood studios and streamers shooting their originals across the country, especially in Toronto and British Columbia. The latest salvo in the U.S. trade war against Canada came ahead of President Trump hosting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday.

“This is more than a trade dispute — it’s an attack on the livelihoods of Canadian performers and creators,” Eleanor Noble, ACTRA national president, said in a statement.

Neishaw Ali, CEO and executive producer at Spin VFX, a major film and TV visual effects studio based in Toronto with offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles, says Trump’s proposed tariffs on films produced outside the U.S. defies the needs of an increasingly global entertainment industry.

“A 100 percent tariff on production related services and content would be deeply damaging to our industry that truly relies on international collaboration to function efficiently and creatively. Studios today are multinational and under intense pressure to produce high-quality content at sustainable costs,” Ali tells THR.

“Large and mid-scale productions require highly skilled, tech-savvy and creative teams, resources that are often in high demand and short supply, especially when multiple projects are in motion simultaneously,” adds Ali, whose recent Spin VFX credits include Paramount+’s School Spirits and Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy and Saving Bikini Bottom.

Ontario Creates, a government agency that markets the Canadian province to Hollywood as a foreign location destination, said it was weighing Trump’s film tariff alongside earlier levies placed on Ontario-made goods imported into the U.S. market. “We continue to work closely with industry and labor partners impacted by President Trump’s unjustified tariffs,” Ontario Creates said in a statement.

Ontario Premiere Doug Ford showed his exasperation with Trump’s latest tariff pitch during a press conference in Toronto as he defended the province’s film industry. “This guy, he’s just unbelievable. It’s every day something new with him. You know, we built our film industry up to about $3 billion, or goal is $5 billion. But again, he’s just going after the whole world. It’s obviously backfiring,” Ford added about unfavorable polling for the U.S. president ahead of the midterm elections set for 2026.

Creative B.C., which markets the westernmost province to Hollywood, is also seeking clarification on the proposed U.S. film tariff. “As a globally recognized production hub, B.C. remains committed to maintaining stability and confidence within the industry. We are working collaboratively to seek clarity and provide guidance during this time of uncertainty,” the government agency said in its own statement.