President Donald Trump is once again weighing in on the flight of film and television production from the United States, offering a mix of familiar threats and new proposals — even as Hollywood power brokers quietly push him toward a different solution.

In a recent interview with the New York Post, Trump said he wants to “bring the movie business back to Los Angeles in particular,” while suggesting the use of “low-interest bonds” to stimulate domestic production. At the same time, the president renewed his long-standing threat to impose tariffs on films made overseas, a proposal he has floated multiple times without detailing how such a policy would be implemented or enforced.

“And so I’m going to put tariffs on and we’re going to be doing bonds, some bonds, some low-interest bonds, for the movie industry. We’ll bring it back,” Trump told the Post.

The comments come as Hollywood unions, studios and producers continue to lobby the administration for a federal film and television incentive — a measure designed to compete with national programs in the U.K., Canada and other territories that offer production rebates or tax credits in the 30 to 50 percent range. Industry advocates have long argued that such incentives must take the form of credits or rebates rather than loans, which would ultimately need to be repaid.

Trump has twice threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on movies produced abroad, including in a May Truth Social post in which he wrote that the U.S. film industry was “DYING a very fast death.” While the comments initially sparked alarm, many industry observers later dismissed the proposal as unlikely to materialize.

“It’s just hot air again,” one producer told Variety following a previous tariff threat.

Behind the scenes, however, a parallel effort is underway to redirect the president’s attention toward a federal incentive framework. According to a report from New York Magazine, Ari Emanuel, the executive chairman of WME Group and Trump’s former agent, recently contacted the president to discuss a federal tax incentive for domestic film, television and commercial production. Emanuel reportedly followed up the conversation with a memo outlining the proposal, which Trump said he would review.

Emanuel, an outspoken Democrat, has maintained intermittent contact with Trump over the years despite distancing himself after Trump’s first term. WME declined to comment on the outreach.

Trump has expressed interest in “making Hollywood great again” since returning to office, but concrete policy action has yet to follow. As Deadline previously reported, Trump advisers met with industry stakeholders late last year in an effort to steer the administration away from tariffs and toward a stackable federal tax credit in the 15 to 20 percent range that could complement existing state programs.

The president’s tariff rhetoric has also been complicated by the views of his own Hollywood emissaries. After appointing Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson as “special ambassadors” to the entertainment industry, Trump has repeatedly cited their input on production issues. Voight, while initially supportive of tariffs as a negotiating tool, has also publicly backed the use of tax incentives and deductions to retain domestic production.

Lawmakers from both parties have echoed those concerns. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has warned that tariffs could raise costs for consumers and disrupt an industry that remains one of the country’s largest cultural exports, while calling instead for a bipartisan federal incentive. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, has expanded the state’s production tax credit to $750 million annually and challenged Trump to support a federal program “10 times as large.”

Hollywood unions have welcomed the president’s attention to the issue, but have largely sought to channel it toward targeted tax deductions and longer-term incentive solutions rather than tariffs or debt-based financing. The Motion Picture Association declined to comment.

For now, Trump’s remarks underscore a growing recognition in Washington that film and television production has become part of the global competition for jobs and investment — even as the path forward remains unresolved.