How Trump’s New Reciprocal Tariffs Will Hurt The Art Industry

On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump announced new tariffs against all nations, with specific rates for 56 countries and the European Union. Beyond the confusing method used to calculate the rates (AI? Terrible math? Both?) and the several, uninhabited islands, it quickly became clear the US was implementing import taxes on a significant number of trading partners and a large portion of goods imported every year.

Right before and immediately after the announcement, experts told ARTnews the impact of the tariffs and counter-tariffs—those currently in effect and possible future ones—will result in a broad range of impacts on the art industry. These include changes in the price of artworks, furniture, antiquities, raw materials, transportation, shipping, and catering supplies for events, as well as shifts in immigration policies, cultural exchanges, travel activity, international hiring and enrollment at art programs in the US.

Economists have also repeatedly noted that these tariffs are taxes that are paid upfront by importers and increased costs are generally passed onto US consumers, raising prices and pushing the likelihood of a recession.

Since February, art professionals have been scrambling to deal with new tariffs imposed on imports from Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and China. Exemptions for artworks are still in place for those nations, according to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. However, unless there are other exemptions, pauses, or further changes announced, the new “reciprocal” tariffs in Trump’s executive order on April 2 will mean a ‘baseline’ tariff of 10 percent on artworks, furniture and antiques imported from all other nations, with higher rates for items shipped from countries like India (26 percent), Taiwan (32 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), and the European Union (20 percent).

Tariffs on other imports from China will also rise to 54 percent starting on April 9, and the de-minimus exemption for low-value parcels under $800 will end on May 2.

Trump has argued that tariffs will encourage US consumers to buy more locally-made products, which would boost the country’s economy and tax revenue. The president has also argued the US had been taken advantage of by “cheaters” and “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by other nations in response to large trade deficits.

On a fundamental basis, trade deficits occur when a country imports more goods and services than it exports to another country. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the US trade deficit for 2024 was $918.4 billion, after exporting $3.1916 trillion in goods and services, an increase of $119.8 billion from 2023. Imports were $4.11 trillion, up $253.3 billion from 2023.

While a large number of artists, art institutions, and collectors are based in the US, the American art industry depends on imported art supplies, office supplies, lumber (art crates and stretcher bars), wood pulp for books and exhibitions catalogs, electronics and electronic equipment, as well as lower-priced art-related merchandise (clothing, tote-bags, posters, umbrellas and toys). Steel and aluminum are also used in sculptures, storage shelving, and museums exteriors.

Small and mid-size art galleries and art organizations are also more likely to be hurt by these increases in expenses and logistics, due to smaller operating margins, fewer staff, and the limited ability to negotiate lower prices with suppliers.

Gallerists have previously told ARTnews there have been no discussions about temporary import bonds similar to the ones in the UK and Mexico’s ATA Carnet Option for bringing works into the US for art fairs, auctions, and other events.

(Temporary import bonds do exist in the US for “Works of the free fine arts, engravings, photographic pictures and philosophical and scientific apparatus brought into the United States by professional artists, lecturers or scientists arriving from abroad for use by them for exhibition and in illustration, promotion and encouragement of art, science or industry in the United States”)

Without these bonds or other temporary import policies, gallerists and art dealers outside of Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong and China will need to pay tariffs of at least 10 percent on the total value of works they are bringing to US fairs like Independent, NADA or Frieze New York upfront to Customs and Border Patrol officials.

The additional Trump tariffs also follow recent cuts to federal grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services being placed on leave.

Cornell University assistant professor and economist Wendong Zhang told ARTnews that US cities like Syracuse have already noted declines in tourism from Canadians in response to previously announced tariffs. Shipping and transportation costs for raw materials, meanwhile, may also go up even further in the future due to current proposals for additional charges on Chinese vessels at US shipping ports.

“It’s not passed yet, but is there’s potentially even more,” Zhang said. “It’s not impossible to see further shipping charges if we continue on this exploration path.”

Since early February, the issue of tariffs have become a large source of stress and uncertainty for many US businesses—including galleries, dealers and art museums—in being able to think about future costs and needed products.

“It’s really hard to plan for all of this and then that all the hesitation will lead you to not make investments or not hire the person that you would have hired,” Zhang said, noting his university’s own soft hiring freeze in response to uncertainty about federal funding.

Even for art galleries, museums, artists and other art organizations prepared to pay for all of these new import taxes, there’s also the issue of additional paperwork, logistics, and the likelihood of longer lines at border crossings.

“You have to check whether there’s tariffs that apply on the products you’re shipping through, even for things that you buy from Yorkdale,” Zhang said, referring to a popular retail shopping center in Toronto.

Former US Commerce Secretary and previous ARTnews Top 200 collector Wilbur Ross said one of the methods used to evade tariffs on art is storage at freeports.

“I don’t think there will be that huge a thing in contemporary art,” he told ARTnews. “It would be more in the area of old Masters or older art, where a lot of the collections are still embedded in other countries. And I think it probably won’t change much the net price to the buyer, but it may will result in a little lower price to the seller.”

It’s worth noting the stock market, which affects the net worth of many Top 200 collectors, also fell to the worst levels since 2020 in response to the new tariffs. On April 3, the Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 6 percent, the S&P 500 sank nearly 5 percent, and the Dow fell more than 1,700 points, or 4 percent. However, the value of the Canadian dollar and Mexico peso both strengthened against the US dollar, rising 1.2 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

As to whether those major stock declines will affect future purchases of art, especially at the top end, Ross said, “There is a psychological effect. There’s no doubt about that. How profound that will be, I think, remains to be seen.”

Editor’s note: April 4, 2025: China announced retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on all US imports, starting on April 10. Early reporting has not indicated any exceptions, including for artworks.