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Year of the Snake seems to have started off on the wrong foot. With
President Donald Trump threatening new trade wars as he begins his second term, the art world is again descending into chaos and confusion. But dealers are smart people, blessed with the wisdom symbolized by the Snake, and some have been preparing for these unsettling times.
The best of Artnet News in your inbox.
Sign up for our daily newsletter. As my colleague
Annie Armstrong reported in last Friday’s
The Back Room newsletter , Trump has slapped an
additional 10 percent tariff on imports from China. Only some dealers who handle Chinese material are likely affected.
Good News and Bad News
The Asia Pivot has contacted over a dozen dealers, art advisers, and art industry players to discuss the latest tariffs, and just about everyone said that they are confused, as this additional 10 percent tax is not so straightforward. For now, this new tariff does not affect artworks,
Jared Muscato , director of commercial operations at the New York–based art logistics specialist
Dietl International Services , said. Dietl has advised clients that artworks, along with items like publications, films, and photographs, are classified as “
information materials ,” which are on a list of excluded goods.
Grace Rong Li , a Switzerland-based art adviser who is a member of the
Association of Professional Art Advisors , is also telling clients that the 10 percent duty does not apply to art buys from China. But not everyone is in the clear. “Notable to our industry, items like furniture and antiques do not qualify for the informational materials exemption and will incur the additional 10 percent duty,” Muscato said in an email.
The 7.5 Percent
The trade war between the U.S. and China began during Trump’s last term. In 2018, his administration proposed a 25 percent tariff for art and antiquities originating from China. That did not become a reality, but artworks that are made in China are subject to a 7.5 percent tariff today. While Chinese artworks are not subject to the additional 10 percent tariff, the existing 7.5 percent duty still needs to be paid when importing these works to the U.S., Muscato and Li noted. Where the work of art was made is the determining factor, Muscato said. “If a Chinese artist lives and works in Europe, then it is considered a European work of art, and these tariffs won’t apply,” he explained. “So, if Zao Wou-ki made the work in France, it is of French origin and not subject to the 7.5 percent tariff.” “Many Western artists produce large-scale sculptures at foundries in China,” he added. “The 7.5 percent duty applies to those works, even as creations of European and/or U.S. based artists.” But here comes the tricky part. When considering “products of Chinese origin,” Hong Kong is now included, Muscato pointed out.
The Hong Kong Problem
Just how confusing is the situation? There was a full week when it was uncertain if the U.S. would accepts
parcels from Hong Kong and mainland China. That had never happened before, as Hong Kong has always been seen as an autonomous territory, sheltered from any diplomatic disputes related to China. No longer. That may be shock some art types. While the additional 10 percent duty does not apply to art, it is uncertain whether art from Hong Kong is now subject to the 7.5 percent duty. “That’s still an open point that requires some clarity from the government,” Muscato said. “The way the tariff is written, we would argue that the 7.5 percent does not apply to Hong Kong, but we have yet to see a live test case.”
The Asia Pivot has reached out to the
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative for comment. Several Hong Kong-based dealers and advisers said that they are taking a wait-and-see approach, with one gallerist holding off on shipments to the U.S. for the time being. “The tariffs are unfair to Hong Kong because, under the ‘one country, two system’ principle, Hong Kong operates under a separate legal and economic system from mainland China,” said Hong Kong dealer
Pascal de Sarthe , who also has an outpost in Scottsdale, Ariz. As he sees it, “imposing tariffs on goods from Hong Kong” treats the city “as part of China for trade purposes, which contradicts its unique status.” De Sarthe said he will still bring work by artists from Hong Kong to
Scottsdale Art Week , a new art and design fair running in the city from March 20 to 23, even if he has to pay extra tariff. “This isn’t adversely affecting Chinese artists; rather, it will impact U.S. customers or the galleries, as they will have to absorb the reduced profits from the sales,” he said.
Hong Kong’s Response
Hong Kong has come under extra scrutiny from the U.S. since the 2019 protests and the implementation of the strict National Security Law in the city in 2020. Last year, the U.S. Congress
passed a bill that will lead to the closure of Hong Kong trade representative offices in the U.S., over protests from the city’s officials. And last December, a bill was proposed to end Hong Kong’s “special privileges separate from” China under U.S. law. The relationship is continuing to deteriorate. Hong Kong authorities have said they will
file a complaint with the
World Trade Organization over the U.S.’s decision to impose tariffs on goods from the city.
Rise of Diaspora
Some dealers are playing it safe and no longer showing Chinese artists in the U.S.
Sammi Liu , founder and executive director of
Tabula Rasa Gallery , which has spaces in Beijing and London, stopped bringing works by Chinese artists to art fairs in the U.S. about five years ago. “I have been avoiding showing Chinese artists there as a precaution,” Liu told
The Asia Pivot . Several other Asia-based dealers who sell to the U.S. said that they stopped showing China-based artists there a few years ago—a policy they will continue due to the unpredictability of the Trump’s administration. This explains why the visibility of Chinese artists in the U.S. has declined in recent years. “The greater impact is beyond the art market,” Li, the adviser, said. “In the time of division, cultural exchange through art between China and the U.S. is most important than ever.” It’s too early to say who will be the winner of this trade war—if there is one. It’s possible that
Chinese artists based outside of China might find newfound visibility in the U.S., and that young Chinese artists explore opportunities to be based abroad, one Shanghai-based dealer told me. This would not be an entirely new phenomenon. Art schools in the U.K., U.S., and Europe have been receiving more Chinese students in recent years. In
Japan , according to
Shin Nakayama , the editor-in-chief of Nikkei Asia, Japanese art universities have become popular among young Chinese who see them as pathways to Japan after a recent visa reform. The plot continues to thicken as Trump signs executive orders. As he does, The Asia Pivot will keep reporting.
This article was first published in The Asia Pivot
on February 12.
