Willem van Haecht (1593–1637), Apelles Painting Campaspe, circa 1630, Mauritshuis collection, public domain. Précis
New Section 301 tariffs largely exempt coins, antiques, artworks and other cultural property because such objects are neither products of modern industrial overcapacity nor goods whose production can be influenced by forced-labor tariffs. Coordinated advocacy persuaded U.S. trade officials that taxing cultural materials would burden collectors, museums and dealers without advancing the administration’s stated trade objectives. This exclusion is from the particular 2026 Section 301 tariffs imposed in the forced-labor investigations involving 60 economies. It is not a universal exemption from every possible U.S. duty or separate Section 301 program. The notice expressly preserves other applicable duties, taxes, fees, and charges.
Since returning to office, President Trump has repeatedly made tariffs a tool of negotiation with foreign nations. Successive rounds have been used to reshape trading relationships, ostensibly to promote domestic production and more practically, to obtain concessions from foreign governments. The administration has also employed tariffs as leverage on illegal migration, fentanyl trafficking and the conduct of particular countries vis a vis the United States.
Because these initiatives pursue different objectives and rely on different laws and past policies, their legal foundations and treatment of particular goods have varied considerably.
The administration’s latest tariff initiative rests on a completely different legal foundation from the tariffs the Supreme Court invalidated on February 20, 2026. Instead of relying on emergency economic powers, the new tariffs were developed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a statute that allows the United States to respond to what it considers unfair foreign trade practices.
This latest round has two principal justifications.
Antiques being sold on Colaba Causeway, photo G0SUB, 26 October 2008, Cca-SA 2.o Generic license.
The first is “structural excess capacity”: the claim that some countries artificially expand production in industries such as steel, semiconductors, or automobiles, creating oversupply that harms American manufacturers.
The second is forced labor. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) contends that many countries have failed to prevent the importation of goods made with forced labor. Tariffs, it argues, can encourage stronger enforcement and help keep such goods out of international commerce.
Neither rationale applies readily to art, antiques or collectible coins.
A coordinated effort by the International Association of Professional Numismatists (IAPN), the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, CINOA, the Committee for Cultural Policy, the Association of Art Museum Directors, Heritage Auctions and other organizations explained why cultural property falls outside the logic of a Section 301 investigation. Peter K. Tompa, executive director of IAPN, coordinated much of the legal advocacy and worked closely with allied organizations to inform the USTR on the nature of the trade.
Sign in front of Parmiters Antiques, Albert Road, Southsea, UK, photo Tim Sheerman-Chase, 12 April 2024, CCA 2.0 Generic license.
Those efforts appear to have contributed to USTR’s decision to exempt coins, antiques, works of art and most collectors’ items from the new tariffs. As Tompa remarked after the announcement, “Sometimes, government listens.”
The central legal argument was simple: Section 301 is intended to address government actions that subsidize manufacturing, create excess production capacity or otherwise distort markets for manufactured goods. Cultural objects do not fit that model.
Ancient coins, antiques, manuscripts, rare books and original artworks are finite historical objects, not modern manufactured commodities. Many were created centuries ago, and some survive in only a single example. Governments cannot create excess production capacity for Roman denarii, Renaissance paintings or eighteenth-century furniture.
The forced-labor rationale is equally difficult to apply. Tariffs may influence contemporary supply chains and discourage the production of modern goods made with forced labor. They cannot affect how an ancient coin was struck two thousand years ago or how an antique that has circulated through legitimate collections for generations was produced.
Antique stall in the Galpón de Los Reyes, Santiago, Chile. Photo Rodrigo Fernández, 14 January 2018, CCA-SA 4.0 International license.
Section 301 also authorizes tariffs to remedy foreign practices that burden U.S. commerce. Cultural goods, however, do not compete with domestic manufacturing in the same way industrial products do. No American factory can produce a substitute for an ancient coin or artifact. Tariffs on these objects cannot protect domestic production or encourage manufacturing to return to the United States.
Exempting cultural property is also consistent with longstanding U.S. policy. Since the Tariff Act of 1930, antiques have generally received duty-free treatment. These measures reflect a bipartisan policy favoring the free circulation of educational, scientific and cultural materials because they advance scholarship, education and cultural exchange rather than ordinary commercial competition.
The organizations submitting comments to USTR warned that extending Section 301 tariffs to cultural goods classified under Chapter 97 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule would undermine those principles without advancing a legitimate trade objective. Instead of protecting American manufacturers, the tariffs would burden collectors, museums, and small businesses that depend on international cultural exchange.
That argument appears to have been persuasive. When USTR announced the new tariff schedule, works of art, antiques, collectors’ pieces and coins classified under Chapter 97 were largely excluded from tariffs imposed on approximately eighty trading partners.
Silahi’s Art and Antiques, Philippine handicrafts, photo Markadan, 19 November 2023, CCA 4.0 International license.
The exemption is significant but not necessarily permanent. It applies to this Section 301 program and does not guarantee that cultural goods will be excluded from future tariffs imposed under other statutes. Canadian imports, for example, remain subject to separate tariffs based on a different legal rationale.
For now, collectors and dealers have reason to welcome the result. The outcome also shows the value of coordinated advocacy and presenting a unified case grounded in facts rather than political rhetoric. Their efforts protected both the numismatic trade and the broader principle that cultural property occupies a distinct and positive place in American trade policy.
Summary of the federal Notice:
The official announcement is the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Federal Register notice dated July 28, 2026:
“Notice of Actions in Section 301 Investigations of Acts, Policies, and Practices of Various Economies Related to the Failure of Each Economy To Impose and Effectively Enforce a Prohibition on the Importation of Goods Produced With Forced Labor,” Document No. 2026-15181, 91 Fed. Reg. 47318.
The notice expressly states that USTR decided to exempt additional products, including “certain antiques, collectibles, and art.” It then specifically discusses goods under HTSUS Chapter 97, noting the potential harm to museums, galleries, auction houses, educational institutions, researchers, and cultural-sector businesses.
The operative provision is HTSUS heading 9903.05.86 and U.S. Note 52(b). It provides that the new Section 301 duties under headings 9903.05.20–9903.05.84 do not apply to the listed tariff classifications.
The USTR annex lists these Chapter 97 classifications:
9701.21.00, 9701.22.00, 9701.29.00, 9701.91.00, 9701.92.00, 9701.99.009702.10.00, 9702.90.009703.10.00, 9703.90.009704.00.009705.10.00, 9705.21.00, 9705.22.00, 9705.29.00, 9705.31.00, 9705.39.009706.10.00, 9706.90.00
These cover works of art, original prints and sculptures, collectors’ pieces, numismatic items, and antiques. The codes appear together in the official USTR annex. The exclusion became effective for entries on or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on July 24, 2026.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article referred to the passage of the Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials Importation Act during the 99th U.S. Congress (1985–1986). This Act passed the House in 1986 but did not become law.
