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Trump Calls for 100% Tariff on Movies Made Overseas; NIL Deals Catch the President’s Eye; The MAHA-Friendly App Driving Food Brands Crazy
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Welcome back. Today, President Trump expands the trade war to include Hollywood; endorsement deals with college athletes may be the next target of an executive order; apps that aim to rate the healthiness of food are shaping what shoppers buy; and Temu gives up on those viral tariff markups.
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‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ was shot entirely overseas. PHOTO: PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND SKYDANCE VIA AP
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President Trump said on Sunday that he had authorized a 100% tariff on films produced overseas, calling it a response to tax incentives that lure Hollywood productions outside the U.S., Ben Fritz writes.
Films made by American studios are often shot in the United Kingdom and Canada, including this year’s highest-grossing film, “A Minecraft Movie.” The upcoming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” and “Jurassic World Rebirth” were made primarily or entirely outside the U.S.
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” the president wrote on Truth Social. He called international filmmaking incentives “a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
Hollywood executives are now scrambling to determine what such a tariff would mean for their business. Executives said they were given no prior warning about the plan and no information about how it might work.
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The CMO’s Value in the Boardroom
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Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban greeted President Trump at the university’s commencement ceremony on Thursday. PHOTO: ERIK S LESSER/SHUTTERTOCK
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The Trump administration is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny of the explosion in marketing sponsorships for college athletes, Josh Dawsey, Rachel Bachman and Laine Higgins report.
President Trump told aides to study what an order could say after former Alabama coach Nick Saban told him that so-called name, image and likeness deals were causing an uneven playing field among schools.
Student athletes in football and basketball often sign deals with brands and well-heeled booster groups, with some star players earning a few million dollars a year, and switch schools in pursuit of even bigger checks.
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Shoppers are being influenced by apps that aim to rate the healthiness of foods. ILLUSTRATION: DAISY KORPICS/WSJ, ISTOCK (2)
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Food-scanning apps are changing what grocers sell and consumers buy, and prompting some manufacturers to reformulate their products to boost scores, Jesse Newman reports.
Adoption of the apps has been fueled by the same skepticism toward food ingredients, companies and regulators that animates the “Make America Healthy Again” movement spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Jack McNamara, CEO of seltzer maker Tru, said he was handing out samples at a Los Angeles Costco when shoppers began pulling out their phones and scanning the bar code with an app called Yuka.
The app gives Tru scores of 43 or 48 out of 100—“poor”—partly because they contain stevia and erythritol, sweeteners that Yuka says carry risks.
McNamara said he doesn’t fully agree with Yuka’s methodology, but that Tru is testing new versions of its drinks that would fetch higher scores.
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Temu’s products were 20% to 30% cheaper than U.S. competitors like Amazon, but the site is suddenly losing much of its price advantage. PHOTO: JADE GAO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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Bargain site Temu said it had stopped shipping products to U.S. consumers directly from the country, marking a dramatic shift in its business model, Shen Lu writes.
Boston-based Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, initially said that it would raise prices as the de minimis loophole on tariffs ended for Chinese goods last week. It also started breaking out import charges on each individual purchase that often far exceeded the price of the items, spawning viral social media posts from shocked shoppers.
But the website has shifted to labeling everything as “local,” meaning items that had already been imported in bulk to U.S. warehouses.
“They removed the scary import charge shock, but now there is less stuff to buy,” said Juozas Kaziukenas, an independent e-commerce analyst. “Most of the bestsellers were from China.”
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The upcoming Grand Theft Auto title is tracking to be a blockbuster hit. PHOTO: CHRIS DELMAS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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Take-Two said the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI will now drop on May 26 of next year instead of this fall, saying the company needs more time to deliver the expected quality. [WSJ]
Retailers are afraid that tariffs will afflict the holiday shopping season with higher prices and fewer products on shelves. [Modern Retail]
The Justice Department wants to break up Google’s ad business following a court’s ruling that the company operates an illegal monopoly. [FT]
How Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Busch Light has become one of the fastest-growing beers. [Ad Age]
Ulta Beauty is testing a tool to provide real-time campaign results to advertisers on its retail media network. [The Drum]
BJ’s Restaurants outperformed rivals in the first quarter after its off-menu “Pizookie Platter” went viral on TikTok. [Restaurant Business]
The Los Angeles Marathon agreed to reschedule its 2026 race to avoid running past the Dolby Theater on the same day as the Oscars. [Deadline]
The future of late-night TV might look more like video podcasting than “The Tonight Show.” [NYT]
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