Trump includes policies on Catalan language cinema to justify tariffs

Donald Trump's US administration has released a 400-page document titled 'Foreign Trade Barriers' to justify implementing tariffs that will hit at least over 3,000 Catalan companies.

One of the reasons why the US is justifying its "reciprocal" tariffs in the territory is based on the policies in place to protect Catalan language cinema.

The text points to Spain as one of the European Union member states that promotes protectionist practices on policies on cinema.

Catalonia will launch a €1.5 billion plan to combat the effects of the tariffs. President Salvador Illa is meeting with trade unions and employer associations on Monday to "coordinate a response."

The plan includes €300 million to activate aid programs from the government's regular budgets, €900 million in loans and credit facilitated by the ICF (Catalan Finance Institute), €150 million for investment funds, €130 million for internationalization consulting, and €200 million to promote Catalan products in strategic markets.

'Foreign Trade Barriers' document

"For every three days that a film from a non-EU country is screened, one EU film must be shown in the movie theaters," the text released by the US Trade Representative (USTR) reads.

"This ratio is reduced to every four days if the cinema screens a film in an official language of Spain other than Spanish and keeps showing the film in that language throughout the day," the document reads in reference to Catalan, Galician, and Basque.

The text also criticizes the fact that catalogs of on-demand services must "include at least 30% EU content, of which at least half must be in an official language of Spain."

Trump's administration also mentions that broadcasters and on-demand services with revenues exceeding €50 million must invest 5% of their revenues in the production of EU and Spanish works, and 40% of this allocation "must be reserved for works of independent producers in any of Spain's official languages."

One of the other measures the Trump administration highlights is Spain's approach to international investors. "While Spain generally affords foreign investors the same treatment as domestic investors, Spanish law restricts individual non-EU ownership of audio-visual broadcasting licenses to 25%," the text reads.

"Specifically, a non-EU company may own no more than 25% of a company holding a digital terrestrial television broadcasting license, and total non-EU ownership may not exceed 50% in the aggregate," adds.

The 'Foreign Trade Barriers' document also highlights its "concerns" from the pharmaceutical industry in the US and their concerns with Spain.

"Concerns as to cost containment measures affecting the industry, including lack of clarity around criteria for reimbursement, substantial delays in reimbursement processes, and uneven patient access across autonomous regions," the text adds.

"Industry stakeholders have raised concerns about lack of clarity in the guidelines and decision-making criteria of the Spanish government’s procurement process for vaccines."