The Trump administration is giving pasta lovers cause to rejoice as it moves to drastically slash punishing proposed tariffs on Italian spaghetti, penne and more just before they were set to take effect this month.
A Commerce Department website indicated the feds are poised to scale back proposed duties of 107% after a recent government review spared major Italian exporters from a looming trade shock.
The department announced the painful levies on 13 Italian pasta makers in September, saying they’d be hit with 92% tariffs on top of the US’ baseline levy of 15% on most European Union goods.
Washington accused the penne purveyors of unfair trade practices at the time, saying the baker’s dozen worth of companies had been underselling the competition in the US — and sparking fears that stores would pull imported Italian pasta from shelves or steeply raise prices.
But after a “post-preliminary analysis” found “Italian pasta makers have addressed many of Commerce’s concerns,” according to a spokesperson, the proposed tariff on La Molisana was cut to just 2.26% while Garofalo’s rate was lowered to 13.98%.
Commerce did not examine the other 11 producers — Agritalia, Aldino, Antiche Tradizioni Di Gragnano, Barilla, Gruppo Milo, Pastificio Artigiano Cav. Giuseppe Cocco, Pastificio Chiavenna, Pastificio Liguori, Pastificio Sgambaro, Pastificio Tamma and Rummo — on a case-by-case basis. Instead, they’re set to get a revised tariff of 9.09%.
The recent analysis of the companies’ trade practices “reflects Commerce’s commitment to a fair, transparent process,” a spokesperson for the department said in a Thursday statement to The Post. “Commerce will continue to engage with interested parties to take into account all information before issuing the final determination.”
A final decision on the new tariffs is scheduled to come out March 16, with a possible extension of 60 days, according to Commerce.
Italy’s foreign ministry called the outcome a significant improvement over the initial findings.
“The recalculation of the duties is a sign that US authorities recognize our companies’ constructive willingness to cooperate,” it said in a statement.
“It is also a sign of the effectiveness of the support the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government provided from the beginning, and which we intend to keep providing with a view to the final decisions.”
The threatened tariffs were an embarrassment for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had hoped her close relationship with President Trump would shield Italian exporters from new trade penalties.
The proposed levies also shocked the Bronx’s Little Italy, where shops selling Italian imports line the Arthur Avenue vicinity.
“It’s terrible,” said Anthony Ruscigno, manager of Joe’s Italian Deli on East 187th Street, previously told The Post.
“I hope it’s just a threat and doesn’t go through, because if it does, it would definitely hurt us, bigtime,” added Ruscigno, whose store sells at least four of the 13 brands.
Italy exported more than $4.7 billion worth of pasta globally in 2024, with the US accounting for nearly $800 million of the trade, according to Italy’s national statistics agency ISTAT.
The US Department of Agriculture launched an investigation in August 2024 after a pair of Midwestern pasta makers, 8th Avenue Food & Provisions and Winland Foods, complained that Italian imports have been harming domestic manufacturers.
As part of the probe, the feds requested information from two brands, Pasta Garofalo and La Molisana, which denied the allegations. They were designated as mandatory respondents, which initially exposed them to the highest proposed penalties.
Commerce accused the businesses of being “uncooperative” — allegedly sending over documents with untranslated Italian words and undefined acronyms — and applied the steep tariff to all 13 companies, based on the assumption the behavior of Pasta Garofalo and La Molisana was reflective of the whole group.
Thursday’s apparent reversal eased fears of a sharp price shock for US consumers and potential retaliation from Rome, which had warned the tariffs would disrupt trade and strain relations with Washington.
It came as the Trump administration has been reducing or delaying a number of its tariffs on imports ranging from coffee and bananas to furniture and kitchen cabinets.
