‘A fatal blow’: Italian producers fear effects of Trump’s ‘war against pasta’ | Trump tariffs

“Iit’s a real shame,” laments Antonio Rummo, Donald Trump’s latest target in the ever-evolving tariff war: Italian pasta. Rummo is the sixth generation of Pasta Rummo’s founder, who opened a wheat mill in Benevento in southern Italy in 1846 and used the family’s three horses to haul grain from the surrounding Campania region and Puglia to produce fresh pasta grandson.

“Demand for premium pasta is growing in the United States,” says Rummo. It is appreciated by consumers for a traditional processing method that guarantees cooking. al dente perfection, Pasta Rummo’s sales are on the rise.

“Our brand has grown particularly fast in the last six years, which surprised us but was proud,” he said, but he fears the US president’s taxes will hinder this.

Italian food producers had thought the worst was over when Trump agreed in August to cut tariffs on imports of EU goods to a flat 15%, and hoped that their friendly relations with Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, would insulate them from further turbulence.

Not so. The world of pasta, which forms the basis of Italy’s culinary heritage, has been thrown into turmoil as Washington threatens to hand over another 92% stake to some of the country’s oldest pasta producers in what the Italian media billed as “Trump’s war on pasta”.

Pasta Rummo retails for around $4 (£3) per pack, but the price could double if additional tariffs are imposed, Rummo said.

The extra duties, which are expected to take effect in January, are the result of a U.S. Commerce Department investigation into dumping practices, in which foreign firms export goods at lower prices than the domestic market to gain an advantage over local rivals.

The investigation launched by US rivals specifically targeted the makers of La Molisana and Garofalo, given their sales volumes in the US, but the push for collaboration left 11 other leading Italian pasta brands in the line of fire, including family-run Barilla and Pasta Rummo.

Italy’s pasta exports will exceed €4bn (£3.5bn) in 2024, with the US among the top three countries.

The criminal outcome is proving difficult to digest for Italian pasta producers, who are all preparing to take legal action. Giuseppe Ferro, CEO of La Molisana, which has been producing pasta since 1912, He told the Italian press He said the accusations of littering were unfounded and that he hoped the Trump government would change its mind because otherwise “it would be impossible for us to work.”

The tariffs are thought to be aimed at encouraging Italian manufacturers to set up factories in the US; this strategy appears to have led to investment in other industries such as pharmaceuticals.

While La Molisana denied rumors that it would relent, Garofalo’s marketing manager Emidio Mansi said the company had no intention of opening a factory in the United States. “We were in Gragnano [a town near Naples] “They haven’t moved since 1789,” he said. Gambero Rosso.

Meloni’s government and the European Commission are lobbying Washington to back down. Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said targeting pasta was “overprotective”. “We see neither the necessity nor the justification,” he said.

Ettore Prandini, president of Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agri-industrial association, said the tariffs would be a “fatal blow” for Italian pasta.

“This is very harmful and no one could have imagined that such a situation could arise, especially after Europe agreed on 15 percent,” he said.

Prandini said the tariffs are especially brutal, given that the U.S. is flooded with products that imitate the names of well-known Italian food brands.

“This is a real challenge for America,” he said, adding that the country is the biggest culprit of producing “Italian-sounding” brands. “The market for imitation Italian products is worth approximately €120 billion worldwide, of which €40 billion is produced in the United States,” he said. “This affects the entire Italian food industry.”