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Not only are the US the biggest film exporter in the world by far, with Hollywood being a pillar of American soft power, but you can't even apply “tariff” to mo

Not only are the US the biggest film exporter in the world by far, with Hollywood being a pillar of American soft power, but you can't even apply “tariff” to movies as it is IP, not physical goods (on which tariffs apply). Sure you can imagine schemes to tax these anyway, but that's a huge can of worms to open for the US, are they are net exporters of everything IP related. The EU has been struggling with base evasion and profit shifting (BEPS) from US companies because it was all about IP and they never dared to tax it in fear of upsetting the US government. But if the move comes from the US first, then they will follow suite with a lot of enthusiasm.

iszomer 2y ago
What about the context of IP content piracy between countries?
- bilekas 2y ago
  Can you give any examples of IP piracy (outside of China) because IP in the US doesn't automatically transfer outside the US, they need to be registered in other regions also..
  - iszomer 2y ago
    Sure, my wasted youth buying VCD's that turned out to be shitty telesync/cam rips.
dragonwriter 2y ago
> but you can't even apply “tariff” to movies as it is IP, not physical goods (on which tariffs apply A government can apply tariffs to any exchange it chooses, but movies are explicitly excluded from the law on which Trump has relied for tariffs, so short of getting a new law passed to authorize movie tariffs, there is no legal authority.
- littlestymaar 2y ago
  > A government can apply tariffs to any exchange it chooses My point is that it can apply taxes equivalent to tariffs (well, like you said, only Congress can), but since it's not going to be defined by the same law or be regulated by the same international conventions and isn't going to be collected by the same administration nor from the same people (the tax will be raised on the retailer directly, unlike tariffs), I think it's fair not to call that “tariffs” since it's really going to be a very different type of tax.

iszomer 2y ago

What about the context of IP content piracy between countries?

bilekas 2y ago
Can you give any examples of IP piracy (outside of China) because IP in the US doesn't automatically transfer outside the US, they need to be registered in other regions also..
- iszomer 2y ago
  Sure, my wasted youth buying VCD's that turned out to be shitty telesync/cam rips.

dragonwriter 2y ago

> but you can't even apply “tariff” to movies as it is IP, not physical goods (on which tariffs apply A government can apply tariffs to any exchange it chooses, but movies are explicitly excluded from the law on which Trump has relied for tariffs, so short of getting a new law passed to authorize movie tariffs, there is no legal authority.

littlestymaar 2y ago
> A government can apply tariffs to any exchange it chooses My point is that it can apply taxes equivalent to tariffs (well, like you said, only Congress can), but since it's not going to be defined by the same law or be regulated by the same international conventions and isn't going to be collected by the same administration nor from the same people (the tax will be raised on the retailer directly, unlike tariffs), I think it's fair not to call that “tariffs” since it's really going to be a very different type of tax.