"Antique Shop" by Uzair.saeed is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Import tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump have caused "collateral damage" to the international trade in antiques and decorative arts, according to a report in The Art Newspaper.

Trump's executive order imposes sweeping tariffs on everything from wood imports to upholstered furniture, and the industry is in a panic.

Millicent Ford Creech, a dealer of antique American and European furniture based in Memphis, Tennessee says she can't believe the impact Trump will have on her business.

“I’m in complete shock. I understand the objective is to assist North Carolina manufacturers,” she says, "noting that tariffs on Ikea products might be reasonable." But Ikea furniture is not what her clients want.

“Most of my clients want furniture prior to 1800; the majority of those preferring pre-1770," she says.

The Art Newspaper explains that the 1977 law under which the Trump administration is seeking to levy most of these tariffs — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — contains an exemption for “informational materials” that covers painting, sculpture and other fine art media, but "many other collectibles, expressive arts and decorative arts items, including watches, wine, furniture and even classic cars have no such exemption and would be subject to the tariffs."

New York antiques dealer Steven J. Chait says Trump's tariffs hurt his business, too.

"Tariffs have been a negative for us on purchasing items from outside the country and bringing them in," he says.

Because Trump's tariffs vary from country to country, it is causing confusion and uncertainty in the industry, too.

“When I ask my shipper in the UK, ‘What is this going to cost me to ship to New York,’ he tells me that he doesn’t know,” says Michael Pashby, an antiques dealer in New York City. “It may be one rate when he leaves port and another when he reaches the U.S.”

Pashby tells the newspaper he has porcelain vases that were commissioned by British citizens from Chinese ceramics studios in the 18th century and immediately taken back to England, where, in some cases, silver ornaments were added to them.

“These vases have sat in England for two centuries or more but, when importing them to the U.S., suddenly they’re Chinese, and the Chinese tariffs apply," he says.

"The Trump administration’s actions are having ripple effects across the entire art and antiques trade," the newspaper explains.

Nicholas M. O’Donnell, an attorney who specializes in art law, says “the tariffs are pushing sales out of the United States of existing collectibles, particularly at galleries and auction houses.”

Pierre Valentin, a London-based lawyer specialising in art law and a long-time in-house legal counsel for Sotheby’s, says that “furniture dealers most affected by tariffs will be in the U.S. rather than in Europe”, but European dealers will also feel the effects.

They will be "adversely affected by the tariffs if they participate in art fairs in the U.S., because the tariffs apply to imported items even if they are not sold," Valentin says.

Chris Jussel, antiques dealer and former host of the popular PBS show "Antiques Roadshow," slammed Trump's tariffs.

"I don’t want to pay the tariff — it’s revolting, it’s offensive,” he says, because, he claims, “no one consulted anyone in the antiques, art or museum world about imposing these tariffs on these types of things. It was done by fiat.”