Posted on 10/06/2025 7:18:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
While Italian goods are being subjected to the White House’s 15% across-the-board EU tariffs, pasta producers in Italy are facing additional increases of 91% over their listed prices in the US. The move is the result of a Department of Commerce investigation that found two producers – La Molisana and Garofalo – were dumping their products on the American market.
In economics, dumping refers to a practice – illegal in the United States and many other countries – often employed by large players in a given sector, of selling one’s products at below market value in order to establish market share, gaining a consumer base and gradually raising prices over time to turn a profit. The Department of Commerce’s yearly analysis of pasta imports, which usually results in an extra tariff rate of 1% or 2% at most, instead found that two widely sold brands in the United States were engaging in such tactics, warranting an additional duty of 91.74% from the consumer on their product. With the 15% already in place from Trump’s EU tariffs negotiated over the summer, that brings the total up to roughly 107%.
The Department of Commerce also extrapolated their findings for La Molisana and Garofalo to tariff a number of Italian pasta exporters to the US. “We preliminarily find that the mandatory respondents’ weighted-average dumping margin ( i.e., 91.74 percent) is reasonably reflective of the non-selected companies’ potential dumping margins during the POR (period of review),” a Commerce report from September states, adding: “we preliminarily assigned the weighted-average dumping margin of 91.74 percent to the 11 companies not individually examined in this review.”
Italian media outlets are reporting that other companies affected include: Agritalia, Aldino, Antiche Tradizioni Di Gragnano, Barilla, Gruppo Milo, Pastificio Artigiano Cav. Giuseppe Cocco, Pastificio Chiavenna, Pastificio Liguori, Pastificio Della Forma, Pastificio Sgambaro, Pastificio Tamma, and Rummo. They also note that Barilla, which also produces pasta from American grain for the US market, will be less impacted.
The Italian government is beginning to mobilize on the issue, with Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida issuing a statement: “Together with the Italian ambassador to the United States, Marco Peronaci, we are closely following the alleged anti-dumping action, which would trigger a hyper-protectionist mechanism towards our pasta producers of which we see neither the need nor any justification.” Luigi Scordamaglia, head of the Italian agricultural trade group Filiera Italia, also expressed concern, saying the move “will benefit those who produce pasta in the United States, damaging all those who instead export pasta from Italy to the US.” Pasta maker Unione Italia put it more bluntly, issuing a statement calling the dramatic hike in tariffs “an insult to the Made in Italy product par excellence, a sign that this is a political decision not a technical one.”
The United States accounts for roughly $700 million of the $8.3 billion in yearly global sales from Italy’s pasta makers.
The U.S. just declared war on rigatoni. Washington plans to slap a 91.7% anti-dumping tariff on Italian pasta, on top of the existing 15%, after deciding that two major producers were selling it too cheaply. Rome and Brussels are now pleading for mercy, but starting in 2026, your penne could cost as much as a plane ticket to Naples.
Italy ships roughly $800 million of pasta to America each year, making the U.S. one of its hungriest customers. Confindustria has already trimmed growth forecasts, blaming tariffs and geopolitics for boiling over. The world’s most comforting food has become a front in the inflation wars.
Mama Mia!
That’s to bad for us. My son has a severe MTFR mutattion. He cannot process the folic acid added by law in the US in processed pasta, so we get Italian (good) and Mexican (cheap) for him. athe folic acid interferes with his ability to process folate from other sources, too.
Given this tidbit...
“..Italian media outlets are reporting...”
...I think folks might want to wait to see the details from the admin.
That said, judging by the freakout, Italy and the EU have gotten the message.
Good.
And I say that as a Barilla customer.
If I have to start making my own, I can do that.
Italy, make my day.
Take our jobs, PLEASE!
Apparently it requires a smarter idiot to make pasta with American wheat than an Italian American here.
Most American pasta is lousy. Ronzoni is edible so I spend the extra $.30 a pound for Barilla. Most Italian pasta is already more expensive than American made.
You likely already knew this because of your son’s history, but I just discovered that there are US flour producers who sell flour that isn’t enriched with folic acid.
They might want to start pushing the DIY pasta thing on YouTube.
Save our republic.
That’s what these tariffs are doing.
Big picture, pard.
LOL!! I think you made the funniest line of the day! Thanks!
Just an FYI, this is a Department of Commerce decision, not a Trump tariff.
There is a whole department that analyzes trade issues such as this and makes rulings on trade inequities, primarily at the behest of US companies that have reasons to complain.
The tariff rates are not arbitrary but go through multiple reviews and conferences (almost like trials) before the decisions are made.
I suspect that there will be deals made to manufacture some of these pasta brands here in the USA.
I read that the highest quality semolina wheat, the kind used for pasta, is grown on the high plaines of Kansas.
I’m sticking with American pasta.
I thought “dumping” involved lower than market prices. Italian pasta has never been cheaper than the other brands. Besides, Giorgia Meloni has been a good ally. We should cut her some slack.
Pasta makers are $30 on Amazon. I’m too lazy plus there’s too many carbs in pasta.
I love pasta, but I’m trying to find ways to eat fewer carbs. I have tried many alternatives to wheat pasta, but these are usually either rubbery or mushy. It seems there is no real alternative to pasta made from durum semolina wheat.
My favorite pasta brands are Montebello and Riscossa.
Italian "Tagliatelle alla Bolognese," ragù served over silken egg tagliatelle, a signature dish of Bologna, the food-loving capital city of Emilia-Romagna. This Italian rich, meaty tomato ragù is so closely associated with Bologna that any dish described as "Bolognese" is covered with it.
Barilla, the Italian family-owned food company, produces a couple hundred thousand *tons* of pasta annually in Iowa.
You know it’s al a shell game.
None of this is really going to make a dente.
Ultimately, the penne is mightier than the S-word (spaghetti).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.