U.S. tariffs are throwing Canadian art sales into trade-war chaos

People browse contemporary art at the 2019 edition of the Armory Show in New York. Many of the seven Canadian galleries set to exhibit their work this year sent it across the border ahead of time to dodge Donald Trump's tariffs. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Toronto art dealer Miriam Shiell decided this month not to send a Henry Moore sculpture to New York for potential buyers to scope out. Would it be hit by tariffs crossing the border? She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to take the risk.

For decades, art freely flowed across the Canada-U.S. border, but that ended once U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term last year. Now, 50-per-cent tariffs imposed Aug. 22 on Canadian products entering the U.S. cover a massive range of artwork , from paintings to sculptures to “collages and similar decorative plaques.”