Thomas Fuchs had finished packing up several paintings from his Stuttgart-based gallery that he was preparing to exhibit at the Armory Show in New York last week when his shipping agent warned him about an unanticipated problem.The art would not be subject to American customs duties, the agent told him, but he would have to declare each tool included in their shipment and pay a pricey fee on them because President Trump had ended the “de minimis” provision covering less expensive items. Fuchs immediately pulled his power tools out of the shipping crate, flew to New York, and bought $200 worth of drills, screwdrivers, and nails at a Manhattan hardware store that he used to install the gallery’s booth before the fair’s Wednesday opening.“It’s a shame,” Fuchs told Hyperallergic, noting that he wouldn’t be able to bring the items back to Germany. “The tools I can handle, the important thing is that the art is tax-free. It would be a catastrophe otherwise.”The sweeping array of emergency tariffs that Trump imposed on foreign trade in April has injected a new level of uncertainty during one of the art world’s busiest sale seasons. Artworks have largely been exempt from the new duties because they are generally categorized as cultural and informational materials, along with photographs, posters, publications, and other media, in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But several international galleries at last week’s fairs faced unanticipated costs from reciprocal levies depending on the type of object they shipped and what method they used to send them, not to mention jittery American buyers reluctant to fork over additional fees. Southern Guild founder Trevyn McGowan with works by Mmangaliso Nzuza (photo Aaron Short/Hyperallergic)Southern Guild, a Cape Town-based gallery featuring African contemporary artists, paid a 30% duty on a unique designer table and a 10% levy on a ceramic vessel, while other works in the booth escaped without a tithe. Southern Guild founder Trevyn McGowan held shipping and tax meetings with her staff for one hour per day and still received a customs bill that was $20,000 higher than she had expected.“This country is psychotic,” she said. “How can you do this to collectors? We’re trying to develop this fantastic exchange between cultures and hemispheres and bring American artists to Africa and bring African artists to the West.” Other galleries also absorbed new taxes on furniture, ceramics, and pieces less easily characterized as artworks than paintings and prints. SMAC Gallery, another Cape Town art space, had to pay a 15% fee on a small wooden table and two matching chairs they specifically had made for their exhibition booth.“People said, ‘Why didn’t you just declare something else?’ but we didn’t want to take any chances of it being held up in customs, and the fines are astronomical,” said Jean Butler, SMAC’s managing director.Some European galleries that did not have to pay duties still needed to reassure buyers that their purchases would not come with hidden charges. Astrid Engström, business director for the London and Baku-based Gazelli Art House, believed that widespread anxiety over tariff policy has dampened sales this year.“Buyers think that there are tariffs, and we were struggling to sell to US clients, but once we were here at the fair with the imported works, that worry was off the table,” Engström told Hyperallergic. Even United States galleries have not escaped Trump’s trade wars. Yancey Richardson had to put a major sale at her Chelsea photography gallery on hold this year because a Canadian museum was afraid its government would impose a 25% duty on the purchase. Unlike the US, Canadian tariffs apply to both artworks and photographs.Tang Contemporary Gallery expected to encounter US tariffs on Chinese artworks sold at Armory. (photo Aaron Short/Hyperallergic)But artworks that faced the most scrutiny from customs officers were imported from China. Gallery reps with Tang Contemporary Art, which has eight outposts across East Asia and had a large booth at the Armory Show with several paintings, ceramic sculptures, and Ai Weiwei photographs, expected to encounter tariffs on Chinese works sold at the fair, but did not know what the customs rate would be.“It’s scary for a gallery when these changes are occurring so quickly,” said Cynthia Liu, director of Tang Contemporary’s Bangkok branch. “You might agree to a price in one country and suddenly find out the shipping fee went up 20%. We have to be ready for anything, really.” Art advisors say that even though most artworks should be exempt from tariff laws, some items like decorative or industrial arts, as well as jewelry, may be more difficult to justify, even if a gallery is selling them.Yelena Ambartsumian, an attorney advising artists, art institutions, and collectors who is also a Hyperallergic contributor, recommended that galleries make a second declaration on their shipments under the 9903.01.31 subhead for informational materials and specify the type of goods to avoid a 10% duty. “It’s going to be harder for a table or ceramics to be classified as informational material, which is frustrating,” said Ambartsumian, founder of AMBART LAW. “It’s difficult because we know collectors don’t want to pay for shipping half the time.”The future of tariffs on art and other materials remains cloudy as the Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on Trump’s trade duties this fall. If the Supreme Court finds that reciprocal tariffs were an overreach, the federal government could even issue rebates, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.