A Newly Increased Trump Tariff on Chinese Goods Will Rattle the Art Market in America, Trade Experts Say

Dealers of Chinese art and antiques were already reeling after
the administration of President Donald Trump decided earlier this
month to include works of art on a list of Chinese goods subject to
a 10 percent import tariff starting September 1.

Now, as Trump’s trade war with China has escalated, that figure
has been raised to 15 percent, and trade experts are fuming.

“Based on the new Chinese tariffs, it appears yet again that
Trump prefers the law of unintended consequences to more thoughtful
regulation,” attorney and art law specialist Thomas Danziger of the
Danziger, Danziger & Muro law firm tells artnet News. “The global
Chinese art market will definitely take a hit, but it is hard to
see how this will have a material impact on Chinese trade policy.
[Trump] probably gave as much thought to the tariffs as he did to
his last tweet.”

The five percent hike will make it that much more difficult for
dealers to compete, says Peter Tompa, the executive director
of the Global Heritage Alliance, an advocacy group based in
Washington, D.C. One looming issue concerns the problem of
consignments. “No one wants to pay the tariff up front to
consign something in the US,” he notes.

New York-based dealer James Lally of JJ Lally & Co.
called the tariff “ill-conceived and harmful,” adding he regrets
that “the logic of our arguments has been overwhelmed by
politics.”

But dealers have been bracing for the new levies for weeks. On
August 19, after the initial 10 percent tariffs were announced,
the Art Dealers Association of America released a statement
saying that the “imposition of tariffs on art from China will have
a detrimental impact on many American art dealers. With the tariffs
in place, it will be virtually impossible for these businesses to
price artwork competitively within the global art market.” The
group also noted that artists were likely to be negatively
affected.

The ADAA noted its earlier unsuccessful efforts to stop the
tariffs from being implemented. As the Trump administration was
reviewing proposed tariffs in 2018 and 2019, the association
requested that paintings, drawings, collages, decorative plaques,
original engravings, prints, lithographs and original sculptures be
removed from consideration.

The group also urged its members across the country to formally
share feedback with the Office of the United States Trade
Representative about “the detrimental impact to their
individual businesses and the artists they represent.”

In June, following a hearing, Tompa wrote that if the tariffs
were implemented, the move would be “warmly welcomed by the Chinese
government and the art auctioneers and dealers in China because it
will likely drive many of China’s American competitors out of
business and further redirect sales to Chinese dealers serving a
mostly Chinese clientele.”

The post A Newly Increased Trump Tariff on Chinese Goods
Will Rattle the Art Market in America, Trade Experts Say
appeared first on artnet News.