Italian pasta makers have hit boiling point over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, warning they would have to “double the price” to continue selling in the United States with the incoming levy.
Thirteen of Italy’s biggest pasta exporters may face preliminary tariffs of 91.74 percent in January, as long as the tax threatened by the Department of Commerce is upheld.
That tariff would be on top of the 15 percent imposed by the Trump administration on all goods imported from the European Union, pushing the total tariffs on Italian pasta to nearly 107 percent, the Washington Post reported.
While the U.S. pasta market is dominated by American manufacturers, exports from Italy including Italian-headquartered brand Barilla, have surged recently, and now make up 12 percent of the U.S. market. Given their newfound footing, Italian pasta producers say the tariffs feel extra punishing.
“We would have to double the price,” to keep selling in the U.S., said Massimo Menna, the chief executive of Pasta Garofalo, a company targeted by the duties. “It effectively knocks us out of the game.”
Pasta Garofalo makes $50 million in annual sales in the U.S., but they are far from the only company set to be hit by the duties that are set to go into effect in January. The new taxes would impact roughly 50 percent of Italy’s $780 million pasta exports to the U.S.
Pasta, a staple of Italy’s cultural heritage, made up over 4 billion euros, or $4.07 billion, worth of exports for the country in 2024. Almost 2.5 million tons were sold abroad, according to data by the national statistics agency ISTAT.
“Why don’t they want Italian products to enter America?” Cosimo Rummo, the chief executive of Pasta Rummo, one of the impacted companies, told the Post. “I believe this is totally inappropriate, because Italy and America are brothers. It is an excuse not to let Italian products in.”
The Department of Commerce chose to impose the 91.74 percent tariff after it found two major Italian producers were allegedly selling pasta at unfairly low prices – a practice known as dumping – between July 2023 and June 2024.
The two companies accused, two of Italy’s largest exporters, Pasta Garofalo and La Molisana, have denied the allegations. The Department of Commerce claims that both companies failed to provide enough data to gauge whether they were dumping.
Menna, the chief executive of Pasta Garofalo, disagreed with the department’s findings.
“We’ve gone over [each of the 14 objections,] and completely disagree,” he said. “Our advisers on both sides [of the Atlantic] have been doing this for years. It’s like [the Commerce Department] didn’t understand” the submission.
Giuseppe Ferro, the chief executive of La Molisana, agreed, saying: “We didn’t fail to communicate.”
While Trump and conservative Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are close allies, it didn’t stop the U.S. Commerce Department from slapping Italy with the antidumping tariff.
Meloni’s office has told local news media that Italian and European Union officials are working with the U.S. to try and squash the issue.
The Commerce Department will have to decide whether dumping occurred and if it must take any action, per the Post.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top trade official said Friday he was working to help resolve the feud over tariffs.
“We believe that this decision, as it was reached, was not based on the full facts and figures, and we are doing our utmost to present this to them,” EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said.
During a press conference with Italian Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, Sefcovic said the overall 107 percent tariff on pasta was “clearly something which is not acceptable.”
With reporting by Reuters.
