President Trump slammed Gavin Newsom on Tuesday just hours after the California governor asked for collaboration on a massive film tax credit.
“California built the film industry — and we’re ready to bring even more jobs home. We’ve proven what strong state incentives can do,” Newsom’s post on X said. “Now it’s time for a real federal partnership to Make America Film Again.”
His request came after the president announced over the weekend that he would impose 100% tariffs on all films produced outside the U.S. In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said the nation’s movie industry was “DYING a very fast death.”
The film industry has taken multiple hits in recent years, notably the COVID pandemic in 2020 and the Hollywood strikes in 2023. Production has failed to return to pre-pandemic levels since experiencing a 22% drop in the first quarter of 2025 from 2024 levels.
Last year, Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposed an increase in California’s annual film tax credit from $330 million to $750 million.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images 
Mr. Trump spoke about Newsom and many other topics when questioned by reporters during an Oval Office meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and others to announce that the NFL draft would be held in Washington in 2027.
Mr. Trump said the American film industry has been “decimated” by other countries and the “grossly incompetent” Newsom, which he said caused the film industry to “abandon” the U.S. But he vowed that “we’ll get it back.” He said he’ll be meeting with some film industry executives to “make sure they’re happy with” the prospective tariffs.
The president referred to the California High-Speed Rail project, which would run between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
“A little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that’s being run by Gavin Newscum, the governor of California. Ever heard of Gavin Newscum?” Mr. Trump said. “That train is the worst cost overrun thing I’ve ever seen. … It’s hundreds of billions for a stupid project that should’ve never been built.”
Mr. Trump did have some brief but kind words for Newsom in the midst of his barrage.
“And Gavin, you know, I always like Gavin, had a good relationship with him,” he said.
He also touched on the January wild fires, claiming that he gave water to California.
“I just got him a lot of water. I sent in people to open up that water, because he refused to do it,” Mr. Trump said. “If they would have had that water and if they would have done what I said to do, they wouldn’t have had the fires in Los Angeles, those fires would have been put out very quickly,”
The president visited Los Angeles in late-January, weeks after two massive fires devastated opposite ends of Los Angeles County.
“I don’t think you can realize how rough it is, how devastating is until you see it,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “I mean, I saw a lot of bad things on television, but the extent of it, the side of it, we flew over it in a helicopter. We flew to a few of the areas, and it is devastation.”
Mr. Trump’s comments ended with a challenge for the Golden State’s governor.
“I’d love him to run for president on the other side. I’d love to see that, but I don’t think he’s going to be running because that one project alone, well, that and the fires and a lot of other things pretty much put him out of the race,” he said.
