US tariffs put Canadian art sales and cross-border trade under strain

By Olivia Hart

A 50% US tariff on paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, pastels and collages imported from Canada has been in force since 22 August, placing immediate pressure on galleries and artists in the trade war between Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump.

The levy changes the cost of crossing a border, not the object itself. The arithmetic is unkind.

Canada answered in early September with counter-tariffs on hundreds of US imports, among them 50% rates on many materials used to make and transport art, plus tariffs on certain printed materials, including photographs.

Paintings, drawings and pastels imported from the US were excluded from that package; they had already faced 25% tariffs since March 2025.

Other US tariff categories cover feathers, bones, tortoise shell, horns, antlers and other animal parts. The Art Newspaper identifies Indigenous artists as the group likely to feel these categories most sharply, extending the tariff's effect beyond finished artworks to animal materials used by Indigenous artists.

According to The Art Newspaper, around two thirds of Canada's cultural exports go to the US. In 2023, Canada exported C$27.1bn (US$19bn) in cultural products, of which C$18.1bn (US$12.7bn) went south. Put simply, for every C$3 in cultural exports, about C$2 went to the US.

Mackenzie Sinclair, executive director of the Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC), said: “The art market as a whole is a fragile ecosystem, and changes to the conditions under which art is traded can have unforeseen and far-reaching consequences across the sector.” She calls the tariffs a significant concern for members given the close economic relationship between Canada and the US.

What changes across the border?

Until recently, US buyers accounted for around 10% of sales of First Nations painter Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, represented by Macaulay & Co Fine Art. The gallery's founding director, Sarah Macaulay, says the Vancouver and Toronto operation now concentrates more on Australia and Europe.

Macaulay has cancelled plans to participate in a fair during Miami Art Week in December, saying participation has become “just too risky” after the latest tariffs. A planned December route into the US market has closed.

Andy Sylvester, owner and director of Vancouver's Equinox Gallery, says US buyers represented around 15% of sales until recently. He expects that share is likely to fall to zero, warning that tariffs will affect the gallery and its artists financially and in terms of opportunity.

Sinclair says Canadian art represents the work, artists' livelihoods, cultural expression and international standing, so it cannot be reduced to another category of merchandise. A US collector facing a substantially higher purchase price may postpone the purchase or choose a US-based artist or gallery instead, leaving Canadian sellers with a direct loss of competitiveness.

The reported changes concern circulation rather than artistic form. They expose the infrastructure underneath: prices, transport costs, fair dates and the risk galleries carry when a buyer sits beyond the border.

Can Art Toronto build local demand?

Art Toronto, Canada's largest art fair, takes place every year in late October. The Art Newspaper reports that US buyers represent a significant portion of annual sales, though it gives no percentage for the fair.

Alexander says the Buy Canadian rhetoric has been prevalent and that communities across the country have supported artists since the tariffs took effect. For this autumn's fair, Art Toronto built programmes for people who want to support Canada's national art market but are new to buying art.

The programmes aim to show those buyers the fair's friendliness and accessibility and build their confidence in supporting Canadian galleries and institutions. They address demand at the point of purchase, where the new tariffs have made hesitation rational.

The test comes at this autumn's Art Toronto: whether new buyer programmes can turn renewed interest in Canadian art into sales before the US market contracts further.