Trump Tariffs Impact on Hollywood: Not Much ‘Direct Harm’ — but a Resulting Recession Would Be ‘One-Two Punch’ for the Entire Sector

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The dramatic tariffs President Trump announced Wednesday won’t directly impose higher costs on most media and entertainment companies.

However, the knock-on effects — namely, depressed U.S. consumer spending and a pullback in ad budgets — would clearly cut into Hollywood’s profits, according to analysts.

Fears about the new Trump tariffs‘ triggering a recession were reflected by the broad stock market sell-off Thursday. Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs “won’t cause much direct harm” to media and entertainment companies, Morningstar senior equity analyst Matthew Dolgin wrote in an April 3 research note.

Other than the likes of Apple and Roku, for which hardware comprises a sizable portion of revenue, most companies in the sector “don’t rely much or at all on selling goods.