New USA tariffs proposed for Canadian art

If you are in the USA and have your eye on expanding your Inuit art collection with a few pieces from Canadian galleries, now might be the time to buy.

Proposed tariffs on Inuit art purchases shipped to the USA

President Trump’s latest round of proposed tariffs would apply to Canadian art – sculpture, drawings, and prints — shipped to the USA. For those located in the USA, the proposed 50% tariff would drastically increase the cost of adding to our collections.

This change is scheduled to take effect on August 19.

Of course, in recent years, proposed tariffs haven’t always been implemented as proposed, if at all. So no one is really sure if this will happen and, if it does, if the tariff will actually be 50% for original art or if a lower amount will be applied or if nothing will change.

If you are curious about what this is proposed to apply to, you can find a long list of included items here. (PDF) Art, antiquities, and collector items seem to be in the 9700 groupings at the end of the list. But I don’t have a good source for you to follow on how this is all moving forward. I’m not sure anyone really knows what is going to happen come August 19.

What about art hand-carried into the USA from Canada?

For anyone traveling to Winnipeg for our gathering next month and planning to do some shopping. This gets more complicated.

The proposed tariffs fall under a different section of law than the current exemptions for original art carried across the border into the USA. However, it references the same categories. Thus, it could well apply the 50% tariff to travelers carrying their Canadian purchases home. But that isn’t clear.

Check in with your favorite gallery

While I’ve been vaguely aware of this issue for a bit now, I want to thank IAS friend Mark London of Galerie Elca London for really bringing it to my attention and trying to track down more information for me. Feheley Fine Arts also sent some basic information to their mailing list.

Mark at Elca London is responding to the uncertainty by offering 15% off anything in the gallery through August 14.

I haven’t seen a similar sale at other Inuit galleries, but I’m not on every Inuit art gallery mailing list. There may be others offering a discount ahead of the tariffs as well. So, if you’ve had your eye on something or simply want to give yourself a mid-year Christmas gift, this might be the time to do it. Or this might all just go away. No one really knows.