Trump’s Movie Tariff Proposal, OPEC+ Oil Price Dip & Temu’s Import Fee Fallout
Good morning! ☀️
Welcome to The Workday Dash — where global drama, economic whiplash, and supply chain plot twists drop daily, no subscription required.
Today’s episode features:
🎥 Trump just pitched a 100% tariff on foreign-made films and Hollywood is not giving it a standing ovation.
🛢️ Oil prices slid as OPEC+ ramped up production. Great for your fuel budget, not so great if falling demand tanks freight volume.
📦 After a 145% tariff slap, everyone’s favorite discount app passed the buck — literally — to shoppers, triggering rage-clicks and a full-on logistics pivot to U.S. warehouses.
In short: Hollywood’s heated, oil’s sliding, and Temu’s scrambling. Just another day on the global logistics rollercoaster. Buckle up.
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.”
Hollywood Tariff Talk Has Everyone Losing the Plot
President Trump just floated a 100% tariff on foreign-made films — and Hollywood isn’t exactly rolling out the red carpet. Industry insiders are calling the proposal chaotic, legally fuzzy, and out of touch with how global productions actually work. Netflix stock dipped. Studio execs hit the phones. And suddenly, James Bond, Dune, and even Emily in Paris are in the political splash zone.
Trump’s pitch? End “runaway production” and bring jobs back to U.S. soundstages. Reality? Most U.S. studios film abroad for cost reasons and still run a $15.3B trade surplus. Also, films are services, not goods — so… can you even tariff them?
Why You Should Care:
If this idea becomes policy (or even half-policy), it could snarl global shipments tied to film production — gear, digital files, freight, bonded cargo. And if you're in entertainment logistics, brace for more customs chaos.
🔥 Hot Take:
If Trump tariffs Hollywood, logistics folks won’t be shipping blockbusters — they’ll be shipping tantrums.
OPEC+ Boosts Output, Oil Prices Tumble Amid Demand Jitters
Oil prices just dipped hard after OPEC+ hit the gas on output hikes — and if you’re in freight, logistics, or supply chain, this is more than just pump-price drama.
Brent fell to $60.23. WTI slid to $57.11. Why? OPEC+ (with Saudi Arabia leading the charge) is fast-tracking a 411K bpd production increase in June — aiming to punish quota cheats and apply pressure to U.S. shale. That’s nearly 1M barrels/day added since April.
Add in recession fears, sluggish demand for refined fuel, and a 150M-barrel stockpile build? You've got a bearish cocktail with big implications.
Why You Should Care:
Lower fuel costs sound great — until you realize they're tied to a shaky demand outlook. Less cargo moving = less revenue, more idle assets, and margin crunch across the board. Don't get distracted by the short-term savings.
🔥 Hot Take:
Fuel might be cheap, but freight’s feeling broke. This market’s giving off more red flags than a refinery fire drill.
Temu Hits the Panic Button — Ditches China Shipments for U.S. Fulfillment
After getting hit with Trump’s 145% tariff hammer, Temu — the bargain-hunting app darling — started tacking wild import charges onto U.S. orders. Think: $5 blender + $8 in "surprise" fees. Not surprisingly, shoppers weren’t thrilled. App downloads plummeted, ad spending dried up, and the backlash was loud.
So now, Temu’s pulling a hard U-turn: no more direct-from-China shipping. Instead, it's shifting to local U.S. warehouses and sellers to bypass tariffs (and consumer outrage). This comes right as the U.S. closes the de minimis loophole, which had allowed Chinese goods under $800 to cruise in duty-free.
Why It Matters:
If you're in logistics, warehousing, or fulfillment, this is more than a retail pivot — it's a shift in freight flow, inventory strategy, and carrier demand. Tariffs aren’t just shaking hands in D.C. — they’re rewriting supply chains in real time.
🔥 Hot Take:
Temu’s not “going local” because it wants to — it’s doing it because tariffs turned global shipping into a no-go zone. Blink, and your whole network could be next.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for July 17, 2025, from iLevel Logistics Inc.