The alarm over art tariffs is malfunctioning

The real threat is a trade-war-induced recession, not a new import tax on paintings

• It’s red alert time. Photo by Carbon Arc, courtesy Flickr via Creative Commons license

Say this for the constant whiplash of Donald Trump’s tariff schemes: at least they’ve made more people in the art trade willing to come out and admit the business is in an absolute quagmire right now. In truth, that’s been the case to varying degrees for at least two y…