EXCLUSIVE: The British Film Institute lobbied ministers to request that the UK’s film and TV business not be included in any trade deal signed with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The BFI sent the British Foreign Office a policy document in May 2025 outlining why including the screen industries in any trade agreement would cause “fundamental harm.”
The reason for the BFI’s somewhat counterintuitive message was because the film body fears that it would prevent the UK from “discriminating in favour” of British companies on tax breaks and subsidy schemes in the future.
The BFI also believes that any screen industry pact with America would likely anger the European Union, which may retaliate by withdrawing UK content from the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
Broadcasters and streamers in EU nations have a duty to carry quotas of “European works” on their services. Under existing arrangements, UK films and TV shows qualify as European works despite Britain exiting the trade bloc in 2016.
If the EU punished the UK, it could damage Britain’s most valuable film and TV export market, the BFI said. The EU accounts for 51% of film exports, compared with the U.S. export level of 20%.
“Loss of UK eligibility for EU quotas therefore risks majorly undermining the value of film and wider AV (audio visual) exports into our most valuable market,” said the BFI policy paper, which was titled A Potential UK/US Trade Deal: Why Audiovisual Services and Subsidies Must be Excluded.
“The inclusion of AV in the IP chapter of any trade deal should be confined to ensuring that other countries adhere to the ‘gold standard’ IP framework which has been developed in the UK, rather than agreeing to any changes which would cause fundamental harm to the interests of individual creators and creative businesses.”
AI Dangers
The BFI also warned about how a trade deal could open the door to U.S. AI companies flouting copyrighted material.
“It is again absolutely essential that the UK retains its regulatory sovereignty and does not yield to the demands of US AI companies for a more ‘permissive’ regime for copyright,” the document said. “This would put at serious risk businesses and livelihoods across our creative industries.”
The “sensitive” paper was disclosed on Monday, when the government released more than 1,000 pages of documents about Lord Mandelson’s appointment as the UK’s ambassador to the U.S. Mandelson was fired last year because of his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Film and TV industry was not included in the economic agreement with the UK signed by Trump last year. At the time, Trump was still threatening to slap a 100% tariff on film imports.
In an email containing the BFI briefing paper, a representative from the film body told Jon Garvie, former chief of staff to the Foreign Secretary, that Trump’s tariffs would be bad for British business.
“As you’ll be all too aware, any such move would have major negative consequences for the UK film & HETV (high-end TV) sector given the very high proportion of US inward investment in our sector,” the BFI employee said.
The BFI declined to comment further.