Italian agri-food exports to the US slow in May, first effects of the tariffs threat

The uncertainty linked to the evolution of the situation and the additional tariffs threatened by President Trump are holding back the growth in value of Italian agri-food exports to the USA. In fact, after a first quarter of the year in which agri-food exports recorded an average growth in value of 11%, since April (the first month in which the additional tariffs of 10% were applied), they have gone down to +1.3%, and then dropped further in May to +0.4%, with negative results for all the most exported products, from wine to oil to cheese and tomato puree. Cheeses currently pay a tariffs of 25%, processed tomatoes and jams and preserves 22%, wines around 15%, and stuffed pasta 16%. The result is that in May, exports to the US of extra virgin olive oil and processed tomatoes plummeted (-17%), cheeses fell (-4%), while wine recovered by 3% compared to April's negative figure.

This is what emerges from Coldiretti's analysis of Istat data released on the occasion of the Coldiretti assembly being held today in Rome in the presence of national president Ettore Prandini and secretary general Vincenzo Gesmundo. Among those present were Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Regional and Cohesion Policy, Regional Development, Cities and Reforms, and Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

The assembly will be an opportunity to discuss the future of Italian and European agriculture in the light of the Union's budget choices, with the 20% cut in Pac 2028-2034 funds, and the impact of US tariffs on the country's economy and the lives of its citizens. "The decrease in consumption on the American market is not only due to the uncertainty of tariffs: there is rising inflation and there is also a devaluation of the dollar against the euro that makes our products more expensive. If we add all this to the 30% tariffs now threatened on foodstuffs in particular, we have an almost unsustainable effect on our economy, given that the US market is the second most important market globally for agri-foodstuffs. Having said that, it seems clear to me that the answer cannot be counter-duties but an agreement between equals,' explains Ettore Prandini, President of Coldiretti.

"We need to find an agreement that protects our companies without giving in on the quality and food safety front, with a change of pace compared to the current situation where the President of the EU Commission Von der Leyen has literally not been seen, unable to put on the plate the many openings and concessions made to the US in recent months on many fronts, starting with the sharp increase in the European contribution to NATO spending,' denounced Coldiretti Secretary General Vincenzo Gesmundo. 'We find ourselves in a paradoxical and asymmetrical situation in our relations with America that risks dealing a mortal blow to our exports.