Canada looks beyond Hollywood for film and TV partners as U.S. trade fight drags on
Canada is looking beyond Hollywood for its next film and television partners.
Marc Miller, Canada's Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, told local filmmakers in Toronto that the country's screen industry must find new co-production allies as a tariff and trade dispute with the United States continues, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Miller spoke at the Access Canada Summit in Toronto, an event powered by The Hollywood Reporter. His message was blunt. "In a crisis, fortune favors the bold," he said.
He said Canada needs to move faster, strengthening its economy at home and diversifying relationships abroad. The Canadian audiovisual sector, which covers film, television and video production, is central to that plan.
The speech landed alongside deal-making. At the Toronto Film Festival, Miller signed new and updated official co-production treaties with the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Spain. Canada also signed a modernised co-production treaty with Korea in April 2026.
A co-production treaty is a government-to-government agreement. It lets a film or series count as local content in both countries, which opens the door to tax credits, grants and broadcast quotas in each market. The deals with Britain and Spain allow Canadian producers to access local incentives in each country, according to The Globe and Mail. Canadian Heritage detailed the modernised treaties in a September government release on strengthening the sector at home and abroad, according to Canadian Heritage.
Money is part of the pitch. Ottawa has offered around $600 million in new production funding for local producers. In early June, it also dropped regulatory plans to triple a local levy on foreign, mostly U.S.-based streamers.
The wider trade picture remains unsettled. Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking to negotiate a new cross-border trade deal with the U.S. administration. U.S. President Donald Trump has brought audiovisual content into stalled North American free trade talks.
Tensions have already spilled into tariffs. In July, Trump announced plans for a new 50 percent tariff on a range of Canadian products as the trade war escalated, according to Yahoo News.
For producers and crews, this means more places to piece a budget together. A series that once needed a U.S. partner to get made could now be structured with British, Spanish or Korean partners instead, using each country's support systems.
