Blog | Trump, tariffs and trade: What’s at stake for the arts and creative industries?

On February 1, 2025, President Trump moved ahead with his threat to impose 25% tariffs on a wide range of goods entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, and China. The fact sheet on the executive order issued by the White House identifies “the extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs” coming into the US from Canada and Mexico as the justification for this move. At the time of writing, tariffs have been delayed following a conversation between President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau, in which Trudeau reiterated Canada’s commitments to securing the border.

Trade policy experts and political analysts are warning that this is the beginning of a larger agenda by the Trump administration to rebalance global trade in favour of the US. The consequence would be felt by Canadian households and businesses from coast to coast to coast. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce predicts that the imposition of 25% tariffs could send Canada into a recession by mid-year and cost Canadian households up to $1,900 per year. For more information on what the tariffs could mean for Canada, read this article by our colleagues at the Public Policy Forum.

The Government of Canada recently outlined its plan to respond to these tariffs and included a list of items upon which it would impose a retaliatory 25% tariff, which includes many raw materials used by artists and items related to cultural production. The Canadian government also provided reassurances that it was prepared to work with businesses to offset the impacts of tariffs through financing and supports for workers through Employment Insurance. The latter may provide little comfort to artists and cultural workers, many of whom have difficulty meeting the eligibility requirements of the EI program.

As the tariffs and a larger trade agenda approach, what's at stake for the arts and creative industries in Canada?

The arts, culture and creative industries deliver significant economic impact across Canada and in each province. According to a Hill Strategies review of Statistics Canada’s National Culture Indicators, culture and creative industries contributed $61 billion to Canada in 2023 alone. Another review demonstrates that culture is a major export across Canada and in many provinces. In 2022, Canada’s cultural exports reached $24.5 billion. Key sub-domains such as visual and applied arts ($10.3 billion) and audio-visual and interactive media ($7.9 billion) accounted for 74% of cultural exports that year.

Tariffs, if implemented, will almost immediately decrease the value of Canadian cultural exports and increase the cost of creating and producing in Canada. Artists, creatives, producers and their peers spend on materials, skilled labour and production to create the art and content that contribute to these multi-billion-dollar economic impacts. The cost to purchase and produce will rise, as will the cost to ship and sell Canadian products out of the country.

A sustained application of tariffs would have a direct negative impact on the finances of those working as artists, creators or running small- and medium-sized enterprises in the creative industries. Given how intertwined many of Canada’s cultural industries are with the creative community in the US—for example, the close TV and film production relationship between LA and Vancouver—an escalation in the trade agenda could chill collaborations between companies and cultural institutions such as galleries and museums, which regularly collaborate on exhibitions and programming. This could, in turn, significantly affect opportunities for Canadians to export their work, develop their careers, scale their businesses or find opportunities with US partners, producers or distributors.

A larger trade agenda could dismantle the cultural trade framework Canada has worked for decades to establish with its largest trading partner. Trade exemptions in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will likely be vulnerable under the Trump administration when the agreement is renegotiated. The renegotiation is scheduled for 2026 but may occur sooner given Trump’s actions. There are two CUSMA exemptions to watch:

1. General exemption for cultural industries: Under this exemption, first negotiated in the original NAFTA agreement, Canada retains the ability to implement policies like broadcasting quotas, funding programs and regulations to support Canadian artists and creators without restrictions from the agreement. The exemption covers industries like publishing, film production, music distribution and radio and television broadcasting. Without this exemption, Canada could be prevented from putting in place policies that could be deemed discriminatory to US creative industries’ free access to the Canadian market. Losing the exemption for cultural industries in a new round of negotiations would have debilitating consequences for the creative industries, for the artists and creators who work in them and for Canada’s cultural sovereignty.
2. Digital goods and services exemption: CUSMA prohibits tariffs on digital products, which benefits the free flow of products like video games, e-books and other digital cultural products without additional duties. Again, if CUSMA is renegotiated without this exemption, Canada’s creative technology companies and creators could stand to lose revenues and important promotional opportunities for their products.

What do we do? 

We’re in uncertain times, and it’s difficult to predict how and when tariffs and other trade measures will come into effect. In the meantime, we can get our house in order, support Canadian-owned arts and creative businesses and pull up a chair to the trade policy table.

First, we can make it clear that “Buy Canadian” should include culture. Canadians can support the arts and creative industries through this period by, for example, purchasing work from local artists and artisans, reading Canadian books and magazines (especially if they’re sold at Canadian-owned bookstores), watching Canadian productions when they stream or go to the movies, listening to Canadian artists and subscribing to Canadian-owned digital services like APTN Lumi, Crave, Gem, or ICI TOU.TV.

Second, we can strengthen interprovincial trade. Provincial Chambers of Commerce and cultural commentators like Zainub Verjee see an opportunity to strengthen interprovincial trade. So, too, does the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, which has released a call for Canada’s leaders to do the unexpected: come together to collaborate and quickly deliver on a new, multipartisan all-in plan for trade, which includes the Government of Canada delivering on the promise of internal trade. These strategies are intended to strengthen Canadian-owned businesses in all sectors. The arts and creative industries can and should be at these tables: as economic drivers and as creators of the very IP that conveys Canada’s cultural sovereignty at a time of existential threat.

Ultimately, how this plays out will have wide-ranging economic and cultural consequences for the country. Governments of all stripes have worked hard over many decades, supported by the sector and by civil society, to create and protect space for Canadian voices, for our stories. Wherever we go from here, as the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said, we need to be “all-in,” and that includes culture.