Tariff Turmoil: Art World Braces as Trump's Trade War Collides with Frieze Week
As Trump’s trade war reignites, the global art market faces confusion, shipping chaos, and deal cancellations. Discover how a Cold War-era legal clause is barely shielding artworks from tariffs in 2025.
The canvas may be free, but the frame is burning. As President Trump’s revived trade war slaps fresh uncertainty across global markets, the art world is scrambling—clutching at obscure legal clauses, praying for exemptions, and pulling back on major deals.
At the center of the chaos? A little-known Cold War-era clause—50 USC 1702(b)—that might be the only thing saving fine art from hefty tariffs. For now. While “informational materials” like artworks remain technically exempt, dealers are operating in a fog of fear, unsure whether the next executive tweet will flip the script.
“We’re hanging on by a footnote,” says one panicked gallery director ahead of Frieze New York.
Shipping chaos, delayed deliveries, and deal cancellations are already biting. DHL has halted high-value art shipments. A $90,000 sale just vanished over a tariff rumor. The stakes? Sky high. If reciprocal tariffs land in Europe, the very paintings dodging duty in the U.S. could get caught coming back.
Even mega-galleries are shrinking their Frieze footprints. “We’ve cut back—not for cost, but clarity,” says Thaddaeus Ropac, who’s sending fewer works just to avoid border trouble.
And then there’s the psychological fallout. Buyers are distracted, anxious, and risk-averse. “We don’t have collectors anymore,” sighs Cary Leibowitz of Phillips. “That connoisseurial thing has evaporated.”
Art may not be taxed today—but fear is charging interest. The market’s next big threat isn’t aesthetic. It’s political.
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