Article: Do Tariffs Change Where You Should Buy an Original Painting?
Do Tariffs Change Where You Should Buy an Original Painting?
By Angela Simeone · Last updated: 9 November 2026
In short
A tariff changes what a painting costs to cross a border. It does not change what the painting is. Since 22 August, the United States has charged 50% on paintings imported from Canada, according to The Art Newspaper, and Canadian dealers expect some American buyers to wait or buy at home. If two paintings move you equally, the one that never crosses a border is simpler. If only one does, buy that one.
What did the tariff change for art?
Since 22 August, the United States has charged 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports, a list that includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, pastels and collages, Hadani Ditmars reports in The Art Newspaper (6 November 2026). Canada answered in early September with counter-tariffs on hundreds of US imports, including materials used to make and ship art. Paintings, drawings and pastels coming in from the US were left off that list; they were already subject to 25% tariffs as of March 2025.
The sums are large because the trade is. Canada exported C$27.1 billion in cultural products in 2023, and C$18.1 billion of that went to the United States, the same report says.
What are Canadian dealers seeing?
Mackenzie Sinclair, executive director of the Art Dealers Association of Canada, told The Art Newspaper that a US collector facing a substantially higher price may postpone a purchase or buy from a US-based artist or gallery instead, which costs Canadian artists and galleries competitiveness. Sarah Macaulay, founding director of Macaulay & Co Fine Art, told the paper she has cancelled plans to take part in a Miami Art Week fair in December because "it's just too risky," and says, "Now we're more focused on Australia and Europe." Andy Sylvester of Equinox Gallery in Vancouver estimates that US buyers were about 15% of his sales until recently, and that the share will likely be reduced to zero.
Does buying from a painter in your own country make the purchase simpler?
On logistics, yes. A tariff is charged when work crosses a border, so a painting made in the country where it hangs does not meet one. I paint in Nashville and ship originals only within the continental United States, so none of my work crosses a border to reach an American buyer. Thirty-three of my originals hang in The Conrad Nashville, painted in the same city; the studio sends several videos of every finished painting before it ships, so the first look comes before the box does.
That is an argument about arrival. It is not an argument about the painting.
When should a tariff not decide the purchase?
Sinclair, in the same reporting, pushes against the idea that a buyer should shop by rate: "Canadian art is not simply another category of merchandise." A painting is chosen one at a time. A duty is paid once, and the painting stays on the wall for years. A rate set in August can move again, and a painting bought for its rate is a purchase made on the least durable fact about it.
There is a second reason. Macaulay is rerouting toward Europe and Australia, which means the painters she shows are still being sold. A buyer in the United States who loves one of those paintings has not lost the right to buy it. The buyer has gained a question to ask the seller.
What should you ask before buying a painting from across a border?
Four questions cover most of it. Who pays the duty, and is it inside the price you were quoted? Who ships the work and clears it at the border? What happens if the work is held there? Can you see the finished painting on video before it leaves? I am a painter, not a customs broker; ask the seller, or a licensed customs broker, how your specific work is treated today.
How do you begin?
Look at the wall first and the border second. Browse the original paintings available now, read about the studio, or start a commission made for a particular wall.
Browse the paintings available now: https://angelasimeone.com/collections/paintings-available-now
Visit the studio: https://angelasimeone.com
Frequently asked questions
Do US tariffs apply to Canadian paintings?
Since 22 August, the United States has charged 50% tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints, pastels and collages, according to The Art Newspaper (6 November 2026). Rules can change, so ask the seller or a licensed customs broker how a specific work is treated.
Is buying from a US artist cheaper right now?
Not automatically. A painting made in the United States does not cross a border to reach a US buyer, so it avoids an import tariff, but the artist still sets the price. Compare the total cost to your door, not the tariff alone.
Do your paintings ship outside the United States?
No. Originals from my studio ship within the continental United States only.
Can I see a painting before it ships?
Yes. The studio sends several videos of every finished painting before it ships, for ready-to-ship work and commissions alike.