Protest against Trump’s China tariffs unites the art world

British dealers back their US counterparts in battle to prevent the first duties on imports in 50 years

BRITISH and American art dealers are joining forces this week to protest against President Donald Trump’s plan to levy tariffs on Chinese works – the first time the US has imposed penalties on buying art since the Mccarthy era.

A three-day hearing began yesterday in Washington for companies to give their objections to proposed duties on more than 6,000 products from chemicals to bicycle parts in Mr Trump’s trade war with Beijing.

The list of $200billion (£157billion) in goods drawn up by the administration includes paintings, sculptures, ceramics and antiques more than 100 years old.

Critics argue that a proposed tariff of up to 25 per cent will hit museums and art dealers around the world.

Peter Tompa, a Washington-based lawyer and head of the Global Heritage Alliance, said the proposals “will cause disproportionate harm to the small or medium-sized businesses of the US art trade, as well as museums and collectors”.

He told The Daily Telegraph he planned to attend the hearings this week and make his case before the committee.

“Placing duties on such objects will not ‘hurt’ Chinese industry, but place further disincentives on Americans from importing Chinese cultural goods long held in third countries, including our allies in Europe and Japan,” he said.

In the UK, the British Antique Dealers’ Association is lobbying Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, to reconsider, while Christie’s is sending a representative to argue against the tariffs, according to the Antiques Trade Gazette.

For the past 50 years art has been imported into the US duty free, which has helped it become the world’s largest market, accounting for 42 per cent of global sales in 2017. China is the second largest market, accounting for 21 per cent of sales, according to the Art Market 2018 report from Art Basel and UBS.

Imports originating from China included $107.2 million for century-old antiques and $66.6 million for paintings, drawings and pastels by hand, according to Bloomberg.

“The imposition of a tariff on Chinese art into the US would only be detrimental to the US community as a whole, be it museums, collectors, dealers or auction houses or the support businesses that work for these companies,” said Nicholas Grindley, a British dealer in Chinese art, based in New York. “China, which is already the largest consumer of Chinese art and antiques, by far, would benefit by having the little competition for the acquisition of art and antiques represented by US collectors, museums and dealers, removed entirely.”

James Lally, the former president of Sotheby’s in North America, and one of America’s pre-eminent experts on Chinese art, said it was a mistake for the Trump administration to allow Chinese art to be “swept up in this all-inclusive list”.

“Many individuals and institutions interested in Chinese art and culture see the grave harm which would result from the imposition of a punitive US tariff on Chinese ancient, modern and contemporary art, artefacts and literature entering the US from any source around the world,” he said.

James Callahan, a Boston-based dealer in Chinese art who has appeared on the BBC’S Antiques Roadshow, said the proposals would also be “an invitation to smugglers”.

“It would be almost impossible to nail down,” he said. “What are they going to do, check every container, every suitcase?”

£157 bn Total value of goods, from bicycle parts to Chinese artworks, that the US is proposing to impose tariffs on in Beijing trade war