US galleries, Chinese artists share rare trade war ‘win’ after being spared from tariffs
Threatened duty could have destroyed a thriving avenue of cultural exchange between the two countries, while hurting US businesses the most
When Daniel Chen, director of a New York-based gallery of Chinese contemporary art, heard the news that a tariff of between 10 and 25 per cent could be levied on artworks imported to the United States from China, there was one central question on his mind: “How are we going to survive?”
Over in Los Angeles, Kim Martindale, producer of the LA Art Show, thought about what the loss of Chinese art would mean for his global art show, which draws 70,000 visitors from the US and abroad each year.
In Beijing, Chris Reynolds began drawing up contingency plans for pulling his gallery out of art fairs and collaborations already scheduled in the US, in case the threatened tariff was enacted by the US government.
By the end of a public comments period in August, dozens of professionals from throughout the US-China art world had voiced their opposition to the tariffs, which would have affected a wide range of art produced in China including sculptures, paintings, prints and drawings.
Through the public hearing and an online government portal, they pushed back, many saying the artwork tariff would hurt US businesses, not Chinese.
When the latest round of anti-China trade tariffs went into effect on US$200 billion in imports last Monday, artworks were not among the almost 6,000 items hit with a 10 per cent duty, rising to 25 per cent on January 1, 2019.