‘We don’t want a tax on Bluey’: Rudd blasts Trump over film tariffs

Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the US, has condemned Donald Trump’s plans to clobber all foreign-made films with a 100 per cent tariff.

Kevin Rudd has condemned Donald Trump’s plans to tariff foreign films in a rousing defence of Australia’s entertainment industry arguing “we don’t want to see a tax on Bluey”.

Australia’s Ambassador to the United States also poked fun at the American President’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on islands inhabited only by wildlife, joking a sequel to the kids cartoon Happy Feet would be named Unhappy Feet and feature the penguins marching on Washington DC.

Speaking on a panel about forging global alliances, the ambassador echoed criticism from other diplomats about Mr Trump’s plans to clobber foreign made films with a 100 per cent tariff in a bid to revive the struggling business in Hollywood.

“I don’t think we want to see a tax on Bluey,” Mr Rudd said, referring to the beloved children’s cartoon about an Australian blue heeler puppy and his family that has captured the hearts of global audiences.

“What happens if we all lock down our countries with competitive punitive arrangements against each other’s movies?

Kevin Rudd in Washington, DC. Picture: Getty Images

“Movies are kind of the way which we kind of understand each other more…”.

Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, Mr Rudd said capturing the public imagination about a nation’s brand and identity was a “fundamental element in all of our diplomacies”.

He referenced Australian movie The Dish which tells the true story about the space observatory in New South Wales that helped deliver the world the pictures of Neil Armstrong on the moon.

“So it’s things like that and more broadly in the popular culture, Bluey,” he said.

“If you have kids or grandkids there’s a great Australian cartoon about a dog in my hometown of Brisbane,” he said.

“It’s the biggest brand among any kid under the age of seven.”

Mr Rudd joked about the Trump administration’s tariffs on islands only inhabited by wildlife.

Kevin Rudd referenced the Aussie global smash hit Bluey.

“If you’ve seen the other great Australian movie Happy Feet, the penguins, those penguins of ours have just been tariffed down in Heard Island and Macquarie Island.

“They’re producing a sequel, it’s called Unhappy Feet and there will be a march of penguins on Washington.”

Britain’s Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson discussed the importance of culture and sports in diplomacy.

“That’s why we’re not very keen on tariffs on cars, nor are we terribly keen on tariffs on films, amongst the best of which are now of course made in Britain,” he said.

The US President shocked the global film industry this week when he announced the tariffs, describing the incentives used by countries like Australia to lure the film business to their shores as a national security threat.

“The movie industry in America is dying a very fast death,” Mr Trump announced.

“Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the USA, are being devastated.

“This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda.”

Originally published as ‘We don’t want a tax on Bluey’: Rudd blasts Trump over film tariffs