Foodies fret as Trump moves to make pasta great again
Steel and copper are at 50 percent, autos at up to 25 percent, but an even bigger Trump-era tax is on the horizon: 107 percent on Italian pasta.
Mamma mia.
It started when the U.S. Commerce Department said it was launching a routine anti-dumping investigation of Italian pasta makers based on allegations they were selling products into the U.S. at below-market prices and outselling local competitors.
That led to the threat of a 92 percent tariff on top of the 15 percent tariffs President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed on European exports generally.
The news sent shock waves in Italy, where 13 manufacturers will suffer a double blow. They tell American consumers that if prices more than double, sales in their second-largest export markets will decline.
While the measure hardly caused a pasta shortage, it confused importers like Sal Auriemma, whose Philadelphia-based Italian market store, Claudio Specialty Food, has been in business for more than 60 years.
“Pasta is a pretty small sector to choose from. So there are much bigger things to choose from,” Auriemma said, pointing to luxury products as an alternative.
But pasta?
“This is basic food,” he said. “Something has to be sacred.”
Italy is the country of pasta eaters. Less well known is that most of the tortellini, spaghetti and rigatoni produced in their factories are shipped abroad. The United States accounts for about 15 percent of $7.12 billion in exports, making it Italy’s largest market after Germany, according to data from farmers’ association Coldiretti.
The punitive pasta premium has become a famous cause for Italy’s politicians, managers and economists. Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida told MPs in mid-October that the government was working with the European Commission and making diplomatic efforts, while also supporting companies’ legal initiatives to challenge US sanctions.
Addressing journalists in Rome in October, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic emphasized the lack of evidence supporting the US decision and called the total 107 percent tariff “unacceptable”.
Margherita Mastromauro, president of Unione Italiana Food’s pasta producers sector, said prices for Italian pasta in the U.S. remain high and certainly higher than American-made competitors, weakening any claims of dumping.
He said the measures could deal a fatal blow to small and medium-sized producers.
Lucio Miranda, president of consulting group Export USA, agrees.
“A tariff rate of 107 percent will definitely stop this flow of exports,” Miranda, who is Italian, said by phone from New York. “This isn’t going to be something you can just dump on the consumer and move on. Life goes on. It’s definitely going to be a deal breaker.”
The Commerce Department’s investigation began in 2024 following complaints from Missouri-based 8th Avenue Food and Provisions, which owns the pasta brand Ronzoni, and Illinois-based Winland Foods, whose multiple brands include Prince, Mueller’s and Wacky Mac.
The office’s review focused on La Molisana and Garofalo, which were chosen as primary participants because they are Italy’s two largest exporters, the Ministry of Commerce said in an emailed statement. In line with numerous investigations of Italian pasta since 1996, it has been stated that any sales price below producer costs or the price they demand on the Italian market will be considered dumping.
According to the Department of Commerce, the two companies misrepresented or concealed information, significantly hindering analysis. And in the face of these alleged shortcomings, the office submitted its 92 percent duty estimate, which it extended to 11 other companies, based on the assumption that the two companies’ behavior was representative.
“After botching their initial response, the Commerce Department explained to them what the problems were and asked them to fix them; they did not,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an emailed response to AP questions. he said.
“Then the Department of Commerce submitted the requirements again, and a third time they did not respond.”
La Molisana declined to comment. Garofalo did not respond to a request for comment.
Sanctions will apply not only to future imports but also for the 12 months until June 2024, according to the Ministry of Commerce. He added that only 16 percent of total Italian pasta imports could be affected.
The final decision is scheduled to be given on January 2, and the decision may be extended by 60 days.
Just over an hour’s drive from Naples is Benevento, a quiet hill town of 55,000 people famous for its ancient Roman theater and Aglianico red wine. It’s also home to Pasta Rummo, which was founded in 1846 and boasts a seven-stage “slow work” production method.
CEO Cosimo Rummo is furious over the threat to his company’s 20 million euro ($A36 million) annual exports to the US
“These tariffs are completely meaningless,” Rummo said in a telephone interview. “These are fast-moving consumer goods… Who would buy a packet of pasta that costs $10 ($A15), the same price as a bottle of wine?”
He said that he did not intend to start producing pasta in America, as some companies have done, and therefore would avoid the possible tax. This includes Barilla, which has been the main Italian pasta brand in the United States for decades and now has large-scale production facilities here.
As transatlantic turmoil began to boil, Robert Tramonte of Arlington, Virginia, sought reassurance. The owner of The Italian Store called his supplier, who told him he had enough pasta in stock to keep prices steady until Easter.
Tramonte’s customers rely on him for top-notch products and are relieved they won’t have to pay for the real deal, at least for now. Or worse – kill that thought – buy pasta made in America.
“They tried to make Italian products and use the same ingredients, but the source was not Italy,” he said.
“And they didn’t taste the same.”
