Food

EU and Italy united against US tariffs on pasta: coordinated action to defend the food sector

EU-Italy collaboration to counter US tariffs on pasta and protect the European food industry

6 October 2025Aggiornato alle 15:50

Trasportatore per fabbrica di pasta per la produzione di pasta di prodotti a base di farina. Produzione tecnologica fabbrica lavoro industriale. Primo piano di maccheroni crudi con spazio di copia.

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Rummo: will also have to pay for 2025
Mastromauro (Italian pasta makers): institutions need commitment
Sgambaro: 107% is lightning fast

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

"The European Commission, in close coordination with the Italian government, is cooperating with the United States on the anti-dumping investigation" initiated by Washington to impose tariffs on pasa "and will intervene if necessary". This is reportedby the EU executive spokesman responsible for trade, Olof Gill. "This is an anti-dumping investigation, therefore outside the scope of the EU-US joint statement" underlying the agreement reached on the 15% tariffs.

Rummo: will also have to pay for 2025

The tariffs 'will come into effect on 1 January 2026, but since dumping is retroactive, you will also have to pay for the previous 12 months'. Cosimo Rummo, president and CEO of the pasta factory of the same name in Benevento, has no doubts when asked by Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor about the tariffs imposed by the US government on pasta.

'This is a small battle that we are starting to fight: it is madness,' he says, 'to have extended the fine of two companies (La Molisana and Garofalo, ed.) to us as well, who sell 454 grams in the US for the equivalent of 4.5 euro. They should come and check'.

And on the next steps he comments: 'We are waiting to see what the government and the EU commission intend to do. In the meantime, our US lawyers have already filed an appeal'.

Mastromauro (Italian pasta makers): institutions need commitment

"The US market represents the second world market for the import of Italian pasta with a value, in 2024, of about 700 million euros, equal to about 10% of global exports of our product. This decision worries us greatly because it is a further sign of closure by the US administration towards Italian pasta production, which is the product that symbolises Italian-made products around the world'. This is how, in an interview with Adnkronos/Labitalia, Margherita Mastromauro, president of Italian pasta makers of the Italian Food Union, commented on the news of a US super tariffs coming on pasta exports.

What can be done? 'What the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing at the moment,' he explains, 'is to try to talk to the US administration and try to review this decision in order to avoid serious economic damage to the entire sector, at a national level. Even if at this stage it does not concern all pasta factories, it is nevertheless a decision that worries, it is a sign of further closure that cannot but worry everyone'.

Dazi sulla pasta, Assoutenti: "Rischio di nuovi rincari per le famiglie"

'It is difficult to think,' warns President Mastromauro, 'that if an agreement cannot be reached with the US administration in the next few hours, there will be no damage and no consequences. The damage does not only concern the pasta industry, which is primarily affected, but also the entire durum wheat chain. Since the pasta sector is in any case a pillar not only of our economy but also of our cultural identity, decisions of this kind certainly require a determined commitment on the part of Italian and European institutions to defend a sector that gives value and prestige to our country'.

Sgambaro: 107% is lightning in a clear sky

"The communication of the last few hours on the imposition of 107% super duties on our Italian pasta is a thunderbolt that must be clarified immediately and followed by mediation on the part of our institutions". This is the comment of Claudio Costantini, the new general manager of Sgambaro, a Veneto-based company involved, together with 10 other Italian pasta factories, in the new backlash from the Trump administration.

"A sting of this magnitude becomes unsustainable and almost improbable," Costantini continues, "We are talking about an export market worth 700 million euro that has already been affected by the 15% tariffs agreement. Moreover, if we think that our pasta category already works with very low margins, the impact would lead to inevitable repercussions: blocked sales, but above all huge volumes of goods to be placed on the domestic and European markets with a consequent impact on prices'.

'We work in a market that is already saturated in itself,' he explains, 'which follows a constant and reassuring trend but is slow in its movements. It is difficult to think about sudden changes in strategy to deal with the new situation, and that is why we believe it is urgent to open a joint working table with the Farnesina and the trade associations so that we can adopt a common approach and make one voice heard'.

"The American market, for our pasta factory, weighs less than 10 per cent of turnover, which ended 2024 at EUR 24 million. What concerns us most is that, for us, this market is the number one priority in which to start investing in 2026. We have put in place development plans from next year that include both the expansion of the organisational and commercial structure and the dedicated product portfolio. A change of this magnitude would force us to rethink our entire business plan,' Costantini concludes.

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