Can I bring it home from the United States?
The export rule at the the United States end and the import rule at the US end, by what the object is — because they are two different questions and an object can clear one and fail the other.
The statutes and notices cited on this page were last read on 3 September 2026. We re-check past 21 days.
Work by a living artist
No customs question at allA domestic purchase raises no export or import issue. What is left is sales tax, shipping and insurance — and the insurance gap is real. Get a signed, dated bill of sale with artist, title, medium and dimensions, and schedule the work before it moves.
Ceremonial or ritual objects
No customs question, but ask about provenanceBuying domestically raises no import issue for you. If the object originated abroad, ask the seller how and when it entered the United States — a foreign patrimony claim can follow an object across owners.
Older and antique work
No customs questionDomestic purchase. Worth asking for provenance documentation anyway, for insurance and for resale.
Craft, textiles and decorative objects
No customs questionDomestic purchase. Nothing to clear.
Where the work is
This rule governs Atlanta and Washington DC on this site.
The duty question
The 2026 forced-labour tariffs do not reach the United StatesUnited States appears on neither the 10% nor the 12.5% list in the Section 301 action that took effect on 24 July 2026. Read 15 September 2026 — 91 FR 47318.
Whether you pay duty is a separate question from whether you may export, and it turns on a tariff classification rather than on the artist. What Chapter 97 covers, and what it does not.
Sources
Every statement above cites the regulation itself rather than a summary of it. All of them were read on 3 September 2026; a .gov page can be live and still be wrong, which is why the date is here.
- hts.usitc.gov/reststop/file?release=currentRelease&filename=Chapter%2097
- ecfr.gov/current/title-19/section-10.48
- ecfr.gov/current/title-19/section-143.21
- uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title17-section202&num=0&edition=pr
- aphis.usda.gov/news/program-update/aphis-will-implement-lacey-act-phase-vii-requirements-dec-1
- govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-01-26/html/2026-01397.htm
- govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-01-26/html/2026-01396.htm
- govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-06-04/html/2026-11197.htm
- federalregister.gov/documents/2022/03/17/2022-05681/import-restrictions-imposed-on-categories-of
- ecfr.gov/current/title-19/section-12.104g
- federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/07/2025-06063/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-
- govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title50/html/USCODE-2023-title50-chap35-sec1702.htm
- ecfr.gov/current/title-19/section-148.33