While subscription streaming service providers offer just that — “services,” and not “goods” subject to tariffs — they’re not directly impacted by the vast reach of President Donald Trump’s global tariff war.
But make no mistake — streaming is definitely in the line of fire.
Earlier this week, Netflix pushed back against the UK’s Influential Culture, Media & Sport Committee (ICMS), which has recommended that the British government collect a 5% levy from all foreign streaming companies operating in the country.
This isn’t new language from the ICMS, which says it wants to protect local producers and keep the UK from becoming a “Hollywood of Europe.” But the rhetoric has re-emerged as Trump has enacted a 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods from Europe and all other international destinations into the U.S. — taxes that remain in place even with the president’s decision Wednesday to pause even-more-austere reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.
For its part, Netflix responded with a statement suggesting that any local levies will be greeted with consumer price increases.
Netflix noted that its UK production hub is the largest outside North America, and said it wants to “keep it that way.
“But in an increasingly competitive global market, it’s key to create a business environment that incentivizes rather than penalizes investment, risk taking and success,” the streaming company added. “Levies diminish competitiveness and penalize audiences who ultimately bear the increased costs.”
Beyond Netflix, Trump’s trade war is having a far more direct impact on Apple. While temporarily lifting austere reciprocal tariffs, Trump imposed a 125% tariff in the country in which Apple has most of its manufacturing, China.
The astronomical taxes on importing Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone, has been driven to untenable reaches of well beyond $2,000. With that come not only impacts to a service portfolio that includes streaming unit Apple TV+, but also the global economy.
With a market capitalization of around $3 trillion before Trump’s tariff war started, Apple was worth around 8% of the S&P 500. Apple has now lost more than 18% of its value in the last 30 days. And leading economists now predict it likely that the global economy will enter recession.
With that, consumers will be more carefully scrutinizing which subscription streaming services they pay for.
“You might start getting more strategic about how that budget is spent on streaming subscriptions,” Omdia analyst Paul Erickson told Wired.