China has moved to “moderately reduce” the release of Hollywood films in the Chinese market in the latest front of the growing United States-China trade war.
China’s National Film Administration directly linked their decision on Thursday to US tariffs on Chinese products, which US President Donald Trump has raised to a sky-high 145 percent.
“The wrong move by the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the film administration said in its announcement.
“We will follow market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported,” it said.
The decision likely came as no surprise to observers, who had predicted that China might target Hollywood as part of its response to surging US tariffs.
China accepts 10 films a year from Hollywood, and the Chinese market was once seen as a major source of revenue for the US film industry. (Aljazeera)