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Macaroni and fees? Why tariffs are coming for pasta next

The U.S. Commerce Department is set to impose a 92% tariff on 13 Italian pasta makers, including brands like La Molisana and Pasta Garofalo.

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An illustration of spaghetti, fusilli, and lasagna packagings on a shelf at a supermarket.
An illustration of spaghetti, fusilli, and lasagna packagings on a shelf at a supermarket.

Get set for fettuccine, spaghetti, cavatelli, fusilli, farfalle, and other popular pastas made in Italy to become much more expensive than made-in-America macaroni.

According to the Trump administration, Italy has been selling overly-cheap products in a practice it says is “dumping”.

Now come targeted tariffs on 13 Italian pasta makers, including prominent brands like La Molisana and Pasta Garofalo, that will nearly double the price of made-in-Italy pasta.

Bennett Fraboni, co-owner of Fraboni’s Italian Specialities and Delicatessen outside Madison, Wisconsin, uses imported Italian pasta for his lasagna and spaghetti dishes.

“These Italian pastas act differently after they come out, and they're soft and [when] they're put in a dish, they hold their texture, they don't turn into a big glob,” he said.

Fraboni also sells uncooked Italian pastas for his customers to make at home. He said he’d have to pass at least part of a 92% tariff onto consumers.

“I do worry that we'll lose people to buying stuff from the big grocery stores, but I try not to lose any sleep over it,” Fraboni said.

The pasta tariffs come at a stressful time for U.S.-Italian trade relations. Economist Ed Gresser at the Progressive Policy Institute says adding a fight over something as fundamentally Italian as pasta could make things worse.

“I can easily imagine the Italian public, a typical guy in Sienna or Palermo will notice this  and they may be quite upset about it or feel like I want my government to do something about this,” Gresser said.

Italy exported more than $700 million worth of pasta to the U.S. last year.

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