Imperator Caesar Vespasianus Augustus, 17th century marble bust, from Florence, Italy, of Vespasian, (9-79), first Roman emperor of the Flavian dynasty, on display at Château de Vaux le Vicomte, France. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Between January and November 2025, the landscape for importing art and historical objects into the United States has changed significantly through the imposition of tariffs. Original fine art, including paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture, remains duty-free when imported, continuing a long-standing U.S. policy of exempting cultural works understood as expressive and informational. By contrast, antiques, decorative arts, and functional art, which can include most antique furniture, a large proportion of which is sourced from the United Kingdom and the European Union, are now subject to a new set of U.S. import tariffs.
Display outside Moy Reproductions and Antiques. Victorian and Edwardian. Mahogany, Rosewood and Walnut Furniture, Paintings, Bronzes and Garden Statuary. Photo by P. Flannagan, 13 January 2009, CC BY SA 2.0.
The legislation relied on by President Trump to authorize imposition of the current U.S. import duties by executive order is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA is a U.S. law passed in 1977 that allows the President to take economic action against foreign countries, companies, or individuals during a declared national emergency. The IEEPA was designed mainly to enable the U.S. to impose sanctions, asset freezes, and strict trade restrictions in order to block financial transactions with hostile foreign actors. In other words, the IEEPA is normally a sanctions tool, not a tariff tool.
In 2025, the Trump administration used IEEPA to impose broad tariffs on almost all goods imported into the United States, not just on enemy governments or sanctioned entities. The administration declared that the U.S. trade deficit amounted to a “national emergency” and therefore justified using IEEPA to add tariffs on imports.
The administration’s argument is that the U.S. economy is harmed by unequal trade policies, so we are declaring a national emergency and using IEEPA to correct it. The argument from the lower courts (so far) has been that the IEEPA was never meant to allow the President to impose general tariffs. Only Congress has the constitutional power to set tariffs. Using “emergency powers” to do this oversteps presidential authority.
So, the legal question is about whether the President’s powers are constrained by Congressional authority; can the President declare a trade imbalance to be an “emergency” threatening the U.S. and bypass Congress to impose tariffs?
What Is Now Being Taxed: Antiques and Decorative Arts
“The effect of the tariffs has been extraordinarily disruptive on the market,” Nicholas M. O’Donnell, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, quoted by Daniel Grant in The Art Newspaper, November 4, 2025[1]
“I’m in complete shock,” Millicent Ford Creech, Memphis-based furniture dealer.[2]
What is shocking the antiques and decorative arts worlds are new tariffs that fall primarily on artworks and cultural objects not classified as fine art that used to enter the U.S. duty free, including antiques over 100 years old such as carved objects, porcelain, silver, glass, clocks, devotional objects, and historic furnishings. Also subject to tariffs are decorative objects with a functional component, and furniture and lamps, even when aesthetically significant or from notable historical periods.
Oriental furniture at Antique Furniture & Wooden Sculpture Museum (Milan), Italy, photo by Harvinder Chandigarh, 28 June 2016, CCA-Sa 4.0 International license.
These items often fall under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) heading 9706 (antiques) or under furniture and décor classifications in HTS Chapter 94. Chapter 9706 is not included in the informational-materials exemption and therefore does not avoid the new tariff layer. The approximate tariff levels now applied vary by country of origin, not by country of shipment.
“9706 antiques are not listed under the informational materials exemption and can be tariffed.”[3] IEEPA Tariff FAQ & Implementation Guidance. Updated May–Aug 2025.
So, items of these types originally made in the UK face tariffs of approximately 20% (10% base plus 10% UK schedule), originally made in the EU about 30% (10% base plus ~20% EU schedule/a capped structure). Items originally from most other countries to approximately 10% total duties. In the same 2025 period, items originally from China have faced wildly variable tariff rates.
While in some cases these duties appear relatively low, the application of a 20-30% or more cost to U.S. dealers on European goods, together with added complexity in shipping and requiring formal clearance over mostly low value items is a heavy burden, especially to a market that often relies on international clients, can take their business to the UK or EU.
What Still Enters Duty-Free: Fine Art as “Informational Material”
Michael King from Llanllyfni buying and collecting old furniture with an old Cowley ice cream van, 22 January 1974, National Library of Wales, CCA-SA 4.0 International license.
Most works traditionally regarded as fine art are exempt from the 2025 tariff regime because U.S. law treats them as “informational materials,” a category protected from tariff increases under emergency authority like the IEEPA. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was amended under 50 U.S.C. § 1702(b)(3), known as the Berman Amendment. This legislation exempts “information or informational materials, regardless of format or medium, whether intended for personal or commercial use.” The Berman Amendment covers, but “is not limited to publications, films, posters, phonograph records, photographs, microfilms, microfiche, tapes, compact disks, CD ROMs, artworks, and news wire feeds.”
The “artworks” referenced include original paintings and drawings, original sculpture, hand-pulled prints and lithographs, and certain historic collectors’ works. These objects fall under Chapter 97 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and benefit from the IEEPA informational-materials exemption, which prevents tariff surcharges from being applied to expressive cultural works.
However, for the exemption to apply, artworks must be accurately and clearly described in shipping and customs paperwork. Mischaracterizing a sculpture as a “lamp,” or a carved object as “decorative furniture,” can cause the work to be reclassified outside Chapter 97, where tariffs apply. Customs officers retain discretion in classification, and the potential for ambiguity resulting in misclassification is now a significant risk factor. Thus, traditional “fine art” remains duty-free, if correctly documented as fine art.
The End of the $800 “De Minimis” Threshold
Another major shift is the elimination of the duty-free small-shipment exception. Previously, imports valued under $800 often entered duty-free, including through courier channels. As of late 2025, all shipments, regardless of value, require full customs clearance and may incur tariffs and brokerage fees. This has especially affected small dealers who rely on frequent, low-value European acquisitions.
Acute Legal Uncertainty
At the same time, dealers, collectors, and museums continue to face irresolvable questions and unknown costs from tariffs. On August 30, 2025, the Federal Circuit affirmed lower-court rulings that President Trump exceeded his authority under the IEEPA in using emergency powers to impose broad reciprocal tariffs. On November 5, 2025, the Supreme Court heard the challenge brought by small businesses and several states. According to courtroom reporting, several justices expressed skepticism about stretching IEEPA to cover generalized tariff schedules.
Chinese Rosewood swivel desk chair with bone or ivory inlay exhibited at the Chinese Exhibit in the Palace of Manufacturers at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Missouri Historical Society, No Known Copyright.
For now, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s collection of these duties continues, but a reversal could force refunds of some or all IEEPA-based duties. Nothing in that case, however, touches the separate Section 232 wood/furniture measures or the China Section 301 program, which continues with exclusions extended in short windows.
Importers therefore need to track each tariff regime independently while the Supreme Court deliberates. They also need to consider the very possible result that if the Supreme Court holds that the President exceeded his authority, the President will find another path to imposing them, at least for a while. A decision from the Supreme Court is expected between February and June 2026.
Effects on Dealers, Museums, and Art Fairs
The net result is that U.S. dealers sourcing objects abroad now face higher acquisition costs, particularly for European decorative arts and furniture. To maintain margins, some are said to have begun lowering buying bids. Shipping is slower and more expensive, especially for those who previously relied on entry methods that bypassed formal clearance.
Customs stamp on Chinese Rosewood swivel desk chair. Missouri Historical Society, No Known Copyright.
Museum loans of fine art are largely unaffected because expressive artworks remain exempt. However, museum acquisitions of decorative arts, furnishings, and archaeological material that is not considered “art” such as ancient furniture or functional objects, or historical objects now may trigger tariffs, even when the acquisition serves preservation or scholarship rather than resale.
Exhibitors bringing antiques or mixed-material objects to U.S. art fairs are concerned that they may now incur tariffs even if no sale occurs. U.S. law is not really designed to facilitate temporary entry for exhibition as some foreign markets allow. If a work sells while present under a temporary import carnet or bond, it must be exported and re-imported, and tariffs apply at that point.[4] This has already led some dealers to withdraw from U.S. fairs or bring less inventory.
Antiquities and Archaeological Material: Tariffs Are Only Half the Story
For ancient art, the central risk is often not tariffs but import admissibility under cultural property law. The Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA) restricts the import of archaeological and ethnological material from countries with which the U.S. has bilateral or emergency agreements These agreements now include over 30 countries representing virtually all of the best-known types of antiquities.
La peinture des vases Grecs par Georges Nicole – 1926, photo Mnemosine, public domain.
The State Department publishes “Designated Lists” covering exceptionally broad categories of protected material, such as ceramics, sculpture, coins, icons, books, manuscripts, ritual objects, textiles, and architectural fragments – ranging from up to a million years or more B.C. to 1930s or even 1950s.
Importing these items requires proof of lawful export from the country of origin or proof it was outside the source country before the agreement date. Under the U.S. National Stolen Property Act, highly restrictive, nationalizing foreign laws can make a foreign object legally circulated for decades to be considered “stolen.” If U.S. Customs does not find the documentation acceptable, it may detain or seize the object, even if the tariff would have been zero.
Furthermore, objects containing ivory, tortoiseshell, certain woods, coral, or animal bone may require CITES permits or may be completely barred. In short: for antiquities, classification determines the tariff, but provenance determines whether the object can be imported at all.
What Dealers and Museums Can Do Right Now
“To receive this exemption, you must accurately describe and document the work as fine art.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. IEEPA Tariff FAQ & Implementation Guidance. Updated May–Aug 2025.
Any importer should ensure that they have complete import records, including entry forms, tariff classifications, invoices, and packing lists, and be prepared to provide them to buyers and subsequent owners. Artworks should be accurately and clearly defined as fine art where applicable and functional terminology that undermines exemption should be avoided. Dealers and buyers shopping abroad should request price quotes before negotiating, factoring in potential U.S. tariff applicability. If reasonably possible, dealers should consider delaying imports of decorative arts until the Supreme Court decision clarifies the tariff landscape.
The Vendor of Antiquities by Ettore Forti, Late 19th century. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
[1] Daniel Grant, “‘Complete shock’: Trump tariffs upend decorative arts trade in US,” The Art Newspaper, November 4, 2025, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/04/complete-shock-trump-tariffs-upend-decorative-arts-trade-united-states
[2] Id.
[3] U.S. Customs and Border Protection. IEEPA Tariff FAQ & Implementation Guidance. Updated May–Aug 2025.
[4] If a sale occurs, the importer has two compliant paths: (1) re-export the object and then re-import it on a regular (consumption) entry, or (2) formally breach the temporary-entry terms and pay the duties/fees (and any liquidated damages/penalties) that CBP assesses. See U.S. government and industry guidance explaining that goods “are not intended for sale,” and if sold, duties/taxes plus a penalty apply. (U.S. International Trade Administration FAQ; CBP carnet FAQ), https://www.trade.gov/ata-carnet
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