Most people involved in the entertainment industry responded the same way: With a big question mark. It’s not clear what Trump is targeting: Films for U.S. audiences shot on location elsewhere? Foreign films with global distribution, like South Korea’s Parasite, the 2020 Best Picture Oscar winner? And are these just films for theatrical release or would it include movies and series made for streaming networks? Where and how would this tariff be applied?

 If enacted, this kind of tariff could deeply impact the film industry. Many of the last decade’s top grossing movies were made outside of the U.S. Investors sharply pulled back as markets opened on Monday, with Netflix initially seeing its stock drop 4% and losing $20.4 billion market capitalization—almost the total current value of Warner Bros. Discovery. The stock market closed with smaller losses for Netflix and other entertainment companies, including Disney and Paramount Global, but no more clarity on these potential tariffs from the White House.

Not often one to agree with Trump, California Gov. Gavin Newsom entered the discussion Monday with his own proposal: The state would collaborate with the federal government to enact a $7.5 billion incentive program to help domestic movie production. It’s unclear if the White House will discuss the matter with Newsom. On Monday, Trump called Newsom a “grossly incompetent governor that allowed” the movie business to go to other countries. And it also remains to be seen if this proposal will advance. (After all, the Truth Social post that started the discussion was made half an hour after Trump used the social media platform to endorse reopening San Francisco’s Alcatraz as a federal prison, which got this response from Newsom to CBS Sacramento: “You can’t even come up with a more colossally bad fiscal idea.”)

What it does show are two different approaches to the common goal of building domestic industry. Trump is reaching for tariffs, while Newsom is proposing incentives. Each has benefits and drawbacks, not least of which is the immediate response from industry and investors. How the issue plays out—if at all—will show the way policy and business intermingle, and what truly works today.

Protecting data and advancing cybersecurity isn’t just the CIO’s responsibility, especially given how vital that information is to making future projections—and how costly data breaches can be. I talked to Abhesh Kumar, chief technology officer at financial advisory firm Springline Advisory, about how CFOs and CIOs can come together. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

If you like what you read here, you can easily share it online and on your social media pages. This newsletter, and all previous editions of Forbes CFO, can be found on our website here.

Until next time.

Even though these are positive metrics, they don’t necessarily indicate a recovering economy. While stocks have recovered from their low point in early April, markets are still down since Donald Trump’s presidency began in late January—the S&P is now 5% lower. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s first 100 days in office have been the worst for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 since President Richard Nixon’s second term in 1973. 

While there was more job growth than expected, a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that layoffs are way up—April’s cuts were up 63% compared to a year ago, and the more than 600,000 layoffs so far in 2025 are 87% higher than at this point in 2024. The firm found that 48% of the layoffs were tied to cuts made by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Forbes senior contributor Teresa Ghilarducci found troubling signs for employment underneath the strong job creation numbers. Worker confidence is down: 11.8% of the unemployed had left their jobs, down from 13.2% in January. Payroll numbers only increased by 0.3%, though inflation is much higher. Long-term unemployment is on the rise—1.9% of unemployed people have been without work for 15 weeks or longer, up from 1.4% in January.

The economy as a whole also contracted significantly in the first quarter. According to the Bureau of Economic Research, GDP was down 0.3% compared with the last three months of 2024. That’s a drop from steady previous growth—GDP was up 2.4% in Q4—and the weakest growth since Q1 of 2022. Much of the drop in GDP came from fewer imports, as sweeping tariffs loom. And while the Trump administration has touted deals in progress—including talks to reduce a 145% tariff on China—nothing has been announced and Beijing says it is evaluating whether to negotiate. Meanwhile, several companies anticipating a negative impact from tariffs for the rest of the year have reduced their estimates or pulled guidance.

Last week, as part of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, Skechers signed a letter to Trump saying that tariffs posed an “existential threat” to the footwear industry, arguing that U.S. consumers would be unable to bear increased costs for shoes and that tens of thousands of industry jobs were on the line. A source close to the deal told CNBC that the timing and nature of the acquisition have nothing to do with tariffs and the current situation; 3G Capital has had its eye on Skechers as an acquisition target for some time.