How Tariffs Could End Italian Pasta in the U.S.

Summary

Podcast Summary: How Tariffs Could End Italian Pasta in the U.S.

Podcast: The Journal.
Hosts: Jessica Mendoza, Ryan Knutson (not present in this episode)
Date: November 13, 2025
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the dramatic escalation of U.S. tariffs on Italian pasta—potentially up to 107%—and what it means for Italian producers, American consumers, pasta diplomacy, and international trade. Using on-the-ground insights from WSJ reporter Margherita Stancati, the show analyzes the origins, stakes, and strange twists behind a looming "pasta war" that could make Italian pasta nearly disappear from American shelves.

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Main Discussion Points & Key Takeaways

1. A Visit to Italy’s Pasta Heartland

• [00:05-01:21] Margherita Stancati tours La Molisana, a major Italian pasta factory, describing the process and unique quality ingredients that define traditional Italian pasta.
  • “It’s sweet and nutty…a bit like the smell of freshly cooked pasta. It kind of makes you hungry.” — Margherita Stancati [00:13]
  • Key to the process: high-quality flour, spring water, bronze dyes, and a slow drying process keep the pasta “al dente,” enhancing sauce absorption and texture.

2. The Tariff Threat Emerges

• [01:24-02:32] Stancati meets La Molisana CEO Giuseppe Ferro, who expresses deep concern over the U.S. Commerce Department’s abrupt imposition of 107% tariffs on Italian pasta exports—a move Stancati calls an “export killer.”
  • The U.S. had previously imposed 5-10% tariffs; these new tariffs would massively disrupt the market.
  • “It’s possible that their favorite fusilli, penne may no longer be available in stores.” — Margherita Stancati [02:32]

3. Background: A Long-Simmering Trade Dispute

• [06:14-08:02] The roots go back to the 1990s, when Italian companies were accused of dumping pasta (selling below production cost) in the U.S. The Commerce Department imposed anti-dumping duties then, and subsequent reviews became an annual bureaucratic routine.
  • Italian firms, while disputing the dumping charge, eventually accepted low-level tariffs as a cost of doing business in the U.S.

4. A Routine Complaint Turns Nuclear

• [08:06-10:15] In July 2024, two American companies file the usual anti-dumping complaint. The Commerce Department reviews 13 Italian companies, requesting paperwork from La Molisana and Garofalo (the two biggest importers).
• In September, the Commerce Department accuses these companies of being “uncooperative” based on paperwork issues (untranslated Italian, undefined acronyms, missing data), and blanket applies a 92% tariff to all 13 companies.
  • “They said, you know, you guys didn’t do your homework properly.” — Margherita Stancati [10:58]
• This 92% is on top of a pre-existing 15% EU tariff, totaling a massive 107%.

5. Response from Italian Pasta Makers

• [11:03-11:41] Outrage from Italian exporters: They insist they followed established procedures; errors were minor and routine in past years but were never grounds for such severe penalties before.
  • Italian companies believe Commerce analysts misunderstood Italian accounting and misread some financials (e.g., confusing gross with net prices).
• The new tariffs would force most producers to either double pasta prices for American consumers or pull out of the U.S. market altogether.
  • “We would just pull out of the U.S. market.” — Margherita Stancati [11:41]

6. Market Importance & The Complaint’s Origins

• [12:00-13:04] For companies like La Molisana, the U.S. accounts for about 10% of sales. Cumulatively, Italian pasta exports to the U.S. total $770 million annually.
• The original anti-dumping complaint came from two “American” companies—but with a twist.
  • “The Commerce Department cannot initiate these reviews. Someone has to file a complaint first. And that someone is usually a domestic producer.” — Margherita Stancati [13:04]

7. Private Equity and the Italian Connection

• [13:04-16:45] One complainant, Winland Foods, is owned by a private equity firm run by an Italian businessman. This same firm also owns Italian pasta makers that are not impacted by the tariffs and could benefit if their rivals are locked out of the U.S. market.
  • “Those pasta producers are not subject to the tariffs and could potentially stand to benefit.” — Margherita Stancati [16:30]
• Stancati and Mendoza discuss whether these anti-dumping rules, intended to level the playing field, are instead creating new distortions and “winners and losers.”

8. Diplomatic Fallout & Broader Implications

• [14:59-19:32] The situation escalates into a full-blown diplomatic crisis, with Italy’s government and EU officials intervening.
  • “This incident has blown up in Italy…and it’s grown into a full-blown diplomatic dispute.” — Margherita Stancati [15:13]
• Pasta becomes a symbol of national pride. Italian leaders are directly involved, and a special taskforce is set up.
  • “Are we entering an era of pasta diplomacy with Italy and the EU at this point?” — Jessica Mendoza [15:47]
  • “Well, it’s like, yeah, pasta wars for sure.” — Margherita Stancati [15:52]
• The hosts note the personal impact for American consumers:
  • “People have an emotional connection to pasta in the way they don’t about…other items affected by tariffs.” — Margherita Stancati [18:50]
  • If tariffs go into effect, Americans will see less Italian pasta in stores, possibly as soon as January.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is the first time we’re seeing so many Italian companies, literally the bulk of exporters to the US, affected by potentially export-killing tariffs.” — Margherita Stancati [02:15]
• “Italy’s pasta exports to the US are at risk of unraveling like limp linguine on a fork.” — Jessica Mendoza [14:59]
• “This isn’t just about Italy’s exports…it’s about national pride.” — Margherita Stancati [15:15]
• “The biggest losers of all perhaps are US consumers…with fewer choices when they go to the stores.” — Margherita Stancati [18:27]
• Humorous pasta taxonomy: “There’s spaghetti, spaghettone, spaghettini, cappelli d’angelo…And I’ve left out all the stuffed pasta as well.” — Margherita Stancati [05:11]

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:05-01:21] — Sensory visit to Italian pasta factory, artisanal process
• [01:24-02:32] — Italian pasta makers express alarm over tariffs
• [06:14-08:02] — 1990s dumping case origins explained
• [08:06-10:15] — How this year’s complaint led to an unusually harsh tariff
• [10:58-11:41] — Italian response to U.S. accusations of non-cooperation
• [12:00-12:23] — Economic stakes: why the U.S. market matters
• [13:04-16:45] — Private equity and the Italian twist behind the U.S. complaint
• [14:59-15:15] — Escalation to a diplomatic crisis
• [18:27-19:02] — The personal impact for U.S. consumers

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Episode Conclusion

The episode closes by highlighting how an obscure paperwork dispute has ignited a trade and diplomatic crisis, threatening a quintessential part of both Italian and American culinary life. The uncertain fate of Italian pasta in the U.S. raises questions about the true effects of anti-dumping rules and shows how the intersection of business, regulation, and culture hits home—starting in America’s grocery aisles.

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For Further Reporting:

• Additional reporting by Gavin Bay.
• No changes have yet been finalized; a Commerce Department decision is expected as soon as January.

[End of Content Summary]

Transcript

[Jessica Mendoza]

The first thing that hits you when you walk into the pasta factory is the aroma.

[Margherita Stancati]

It's sweet and nutty because of all these kind of freshly ground wheat berries. And honestly, it's a bit like the smell of freshly cooked pasta. It kind of makes you hungry.

[Jessica Mendoza]

That's our colleague, Margherita Stancati. Recently she toured La Molizana, one of the biggest pasta makers in Italy. Italy. Margherita watched as curls of pasta rained down like golden ribbons from a conveyor belt. It was pasta made the Italian way.

[Margherita Stancati]

What happens is that the dough is essentially extruded through these bronze dyes, which are sort of perforated discs. And depending on which type you use, that gives the pasta its distinctive shape. And this process, you know, the high quality flour, the spring water, the bronze dyes, the slow drying process is what makes the pasta special. It's what makes pasta sauce cling better to it and what gives it bite. It basically helps ensure that it stays al dente.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And why were you there at this factory?

[Margherita Stancati]

So the reason I went to La Molizana factory was to speak to its CEO, Giuseppe Ferro. And he wanted to talk to me because he is worried.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Giuseppe Ferro is worried because Italian pasta makers like La Molizana are now at risk of losing a major export market. The U.S.

[Margherita Stancati]

The Commerce Department announced these whopping tariffs on Italian pasta makers, including his. Many of them would be subject to potentially 107% tariffs, one of the highest tariffs imposed by the U.S. administration on any good anywhere in the world.

[Jessica Mendoza]

107% tariffs. It's the kind of tariff Margherita calls an export killer.

[Margherita Stancati]

This is the first time we're seeing so many Italian companies, literally the bulk of exporters to the US affected by potentially export killing tariffs.

[Jessica Mendoza]

What does that actually mean? Like what happens if that tariff is implemented in sticks?

[Margherita Stancati]

I mean, I think it ultimately hits people, you know, in their kitchens, in their dining rooms. It's possible that their favorite pusilli penne may no longer be available in the stores.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Welcome to the Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica mendoza. It's Thursday, November 13th. Coming up on the show, how a long simmering battle over pasta is finally boiling over. This episode is presented by SAP. A bad storm hitting your warehouse. Incomplete customs forms, a short supply of those little plastic twist ties. These could all deal a crushing setback to your business. But they don't have to. The AI powered capabilities of SAP will help you navigate uncertainty. You can pivot to new suppliers automate paperwork and source the twist ties you need so your business can stay unstoppable. Learn [e-mail] Uncertainty this episode is brought.

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[Margherita Stancati]

Do you know why pasta is called pasta, by the way?

[Jessica Mendoza]

No, Please tell me so.

[Margherita Stancati]

Pasta. Pasta literally means dough and it's short for pasta ascciotta, which literally means dry dough, which is a pretty good summary.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Our colleague Margarita, in case you can't tell, really knows her pasta.

[Margherita Stancati]

There's a spaghetti spaghettone, spaghettini Cappelli d'. Angelo.

[Jessica Mendoza]

She's Italian and lives in Rome.

[Margherita Stancati]

Cagliolini, spaghetti quadrati, fusilli, lungi. Then we can move to the shorter varieties.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And pasta is central to Italian identity.

[Margherita Stancati]

Troffe conchiglia, conquigliette, stelline d' Italoni di Italine, ditalini. And I've left out all the stuffed pasta as well.

[Jessica Mendoza]

But of course, pasta isn't only loved in Italy. Americans can't get enough of it either. Each year, Americans consume more than 6 billion pounds of it, according to the International Pasta Organization. Which yes, that's a real thing. Most of that pasta is made in the us But a lot of premium pasta on grocery store shelves comes straight from Italy. And for decades now, Italian pasta makers have been subject to relatively low 5 to 10% tariffs in the US so.

[Margherita Stancati]

To understand what is happening today, we need to rewind to the 1990s. At that time, Italian pasta companies were flooding the US market. So many of them were literally dumping pasta in the us. That means they were selling their pasta at below the cost of production to undercut their American competitors, to price them out.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Dumping in international trade is when a country exports a product to another country at a lower price than what it charges at home or below the production cost. If the nation getting the imports finds that the practice hurts domestic producers, that government can impose anti dumping tariffs. In the 90s, American pasta makers lodged a dumping complaint against their Italian rivals. The complaint went to the agency that regulates international trade, the US Department of Commerce, which conducted a review.

[Margherita Stancati]

So many Italian companies were found guilty of dumping by the commerce department and punished with tariffs, which are known as anti dumping duties.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Since then, a similar process has happened almost every year. American pasta makers file an anti dumping complaint against the Italian pasta makers, and the commerce department launches a review and determines whether or not a tariff is needed.

[Margherita Stancati]

And this became almost like a kind of low level bureaucratic war that US Pasta makers waged against their Italian competitors. But you know what, like for most Italian companies, they kind of became fine with it. They of course, denied they were dumping, but they came to view these tariffs as part of the cost of doing business in the US and that's how.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Things went for decades until July of last year.

[Margherita Stancati]

What started as this kind of run of the mill dumping complaint became something much bigger. It all started with a six page letter dated July 31, 2024. And the letter was written by American pasta makers, addressed to the commerce Department.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And in at first it was the usual thing. A complaint from two American companies accusing a bunch of Italian pasta makers of dumping.

[Margherita Stancati]

So the letter triggered a review of 13 Italian pasta companies. The commerce department requested paperwork from just two of those 13, La Molizana and Garofalo, which import the biggest volumes of Italian pasta to the US and the companies at this stage are kind of cool with it. You know, they're like, we got this. You know, it's not our first rodeo. And here is where things take a strange turn. So in September, the department issues its preliminary results. And it's a huge shock.

[Indeed Sponsor Voice]

What you pay for pasta at the grocery store or in a restaurant could skyrocket if a 107% tariff on imported Italian pasta goes into effect. The measures, which the Trump administration say are necessary to prevent dumping practices would kick in as of January and would be applied on top of the 15% tariff that President Trump has imposed.

[Margherita Stancati]

The Commerce department accuses the two companies that participated in the review, so Garofala and Molisana, of being uncooperative with its investigation.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And when the commerce department says uncooperative what does it mean by that?

[Margherita Stancati]

They cite problems that range from, you know, untranslated Italian words in the documents, undefined acronyms, and failure to provide all the requested data. And what's more, they don't just punish the two companies that they examined. They applied this 92% tariff on all 13 Italian companies based on the assumption that the behavior of La Molisana and Garofalo is kind of representative of the group.

[Jessica Mendoza]

92%. That would be on top of an existing 15% tariff that the Trump administration placed earlier this year on all goods coming from the EU together, that would bring the total pasta tariff to 107%. A White House spokesman stressed that the 92% number is preliminary and part of a technical review process. The Commerce Department is expected to make a final decision as early as January. Though, to be clear, this tariff wouldn't impact gluten free or egg pasta imports. So the Commerce Department sort of penalizes all of these companies on the basis of an investigation of two of them and primarily because they were unhappy with the paperwork.

[Margherita Stancati]

Yeah, essentially they said, you know, you guys didn't do your homework properly.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And what did the Italian company say in response?

[Margherita Stancati]

The response was like, you know what? We followed exactly the same process we followed previously. They said, you know, it was absolutely not true, that they weren't being collaborative, that say, no, maybe there may be some small mistakes, but that happens in the past, we've been able to fix them. Why not this time?

[Jessica Mendoza]

Italian pasta makers were outraged. They noted that new Commerce Department analysts seemed less familiar with their specific Italian accounting practices. Analysts, Lamolizana said, misread some of the data. For example, they treated some gross prices, which include tax, as net prices.

[Margherita Stancati]

Italy's biggest pasta exporters were essentially faced with a choice. Either we literally double the price of our pasta in America, or we pull out of. And most of the pasta producers I spoke to said it would just be too costly. It would make no sense for us to double the cost of pasta. We would just pull out of the US Market.

[Jessica Mendoza]

And what would that mean for these Italian pasta producers?

[Margherita Stancati]

The US is hugely important. So, for example, La Molisana, the US represents about 10% of its overall sales. So it is very important. Cumulatively, Exports are about $770 million a year of Italian pasta to the US.

[Jessica Mendoza]

For the affected pasta companies, it wasn't just the potential loss of a major market. Some of them started pointing out who was behind the original complaint.

[Margherita Stancati]

Yeah, so there was a twist in the story. So remember what we said. About, you know, how these investigations are triggered.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Somebody had to file a complaint.

[Margherita Stancati]

Exactly. So the Commerce Department cannot initiate these reviews. Someone has to file a complaint first. And that someone is usually a domestic producer. So American companies that also make pasta and the thing about the domestic petitioners in this case is that one of them has actually a strong Italian connection.

[Jessica Mendoza]

It turns out one of the American companies that filed the complaint is owned by a private equity firm run by an Italian businessman. And the same firm owns Italian pasta brands selling in the U.S. that's next.

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[Jessica Mendoza]

Italy's pasta exports to the US are at risk of unraveling like limp linguine on a fork. What started as a tiff over paperwork has become a national crisis for Italy and it's grown into a full blown diplomatic dispute.

[Margherita Stancati]

This incident has blown up in Italy and has been awkward for the right wing government of Giorgio Meloni, which is an ally of Trump. And this got so big partly because it hits the pasta industry, which for Italy is hugely important. It's not just about Italy's exports to the U.S. it's also about national pride. You have the foreign Minister getting directly involved in Italy. You know, they set up a special task force to handle this issue. You also have top EU officials getting involved.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Right. It sounds like, are we entering an era of pasta diplomacy with Italy and the EU at this point?

[Margherita Stancati]

Well, it's like, yeah, pasta wars for sure.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Which brings us back to the original complaint sent to the Commerce Department filed by two American companies. One of them is the company that owns American made Ronzoni pasta. The second company is where things get interesting. That company is called Winland Foods.

[Margherita Stancati]

Now Winland is actually owned by a private equity company which has a pretty strong Italian connection. It's run by an Italian businessman and it also owns two Italy based pasta producers.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Those pasta producers are not subject to.

[Margherita Stancati]

The tariffs and they could potentially stand to benefit in the US Market at the expense of their rivals if the duties are implemented.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Which means Winland and also the Italian pasta companies linked to it stands to gain from the tariffs on its competitors.

[Margherita Stancati]

Some of the Italian companies were like, this decision by the Commerce Department hurts us not just with our US competitors, but also with our Italian competitors.

[Jessica Mendoza]

The Department of Commerce says it has no discretion in selecting which companies are included in the review. A person close to the private equity company said the group isn't involved in the day to day operations of the food companies it controls and plays no role in drafting anti dumping complaints. And then do American pasta makers benefit from these tariffs? I mean, the whole point of these tariffs, according to the Trump administration, right, is. And the point of tariffs in general is to level the playing field. Is that actually happening?

[Margherita Stancati]

Yeah, I mean, that's a really good question. I think, you know, anti dumping rules were put in place to make competition fairer and to protect the domestic industry. But what we're seeing here is these kind of rules that were intended to make competition fairer, creating opportunities for potentially unfair competition. There are, you know, winners and losers in this.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Can you say more about that?

[Margherita Stancati]

So, I mean, the winners, of course, is the domestic market, the US Pasta making market, and Italian companies that are not hit by the duties, including those linked to the petitioners, but also others. And the losers, of course, are the Italian pasta makers affected by this decision or, you know, that are facing the possibility of having to pull out of one of their main markets. But the biggest losers of all perhaps are US consumers who perhaps as soon as January could find themselves with fewer choices when they go to the stores. So that hits more than say, tariffs about, you know, car parts or steel. People have an emotional connection to pasta in the way they don't about, I don't know, other items affected by tariffs.

[Jessica Mendoza]

Right. This is something that you interact with, like on a daily or weekly basis whenever you go to the store to buy, you know, food for the week or for the month. Like, pasta is a very common ingredient on that list.

[Margherita Stancati]

It hits people at home. I mean, it is possible that other goods will be hit by dumping duties. I mean, they're in place for all sorts of goods. But this is, I think, is the first time where we're seeing such a kind of staple of the American kitchen being hit by really, really high tariffs that potentially will make those items no longer available.

[Jessica Mendoza]

That's all for today. Thursday, November 13th. The journal is a co production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. Additional reporting in this episode by Gavin Bay. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.