With the election of President Trump, the word “tariff” hasn’t seen this much action since the Boston Tea Party. On May 4 it became more personal, and more confusing, when he announced a “100 percent tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands.” Um, Ok. What the hell does that mean?

A tariff is a tax imposed by a governing body on imported goods. However, films aren’t a physical good like Parmesan, catalytic converters, or Temu hauls. A performance, recorded or otherwise, qualifies as an intangible service. Another way to look at it: Trump can place a tariff on a pair of scissors, but he can’t touch the haircut.

Still, let’s play along. As IndieWire’s Brian Welk noted, this is a “strategy” with more questions than answers, like:

Would it apply to just films, or also TV shows? What about streaming?...