Greg Bettinelli discovered the Rummo pasta brand during their honeymoon in Florence (Italy) in 2002, at that time the brand was almost unfounded in the US. He and his wife filled their luggage with the packages of pasta they could carry.
Today, the Italian pasta brand has appeared in major retail chains such as Target and Whole Foods. However, Bettinelli is hoarding again, worried that his favorite pasta brand will disappear from the US shelves or increase prices rapidly when the tax rate of more than 100% is expected to be applied to more than a dozen Italian pasta companies next year.
Coldiretti - Italy's largest agricultural association - warned that if these tariffs are applied, the shipments of pasta from affected companies will "nearly be wiped out". Coldiretti includes 13 companies, representing 16% of Italian pasta exports to the US, according to the US Department of Commerce.
We cannot afford this tax rate in the current price structure, said Claudio constantini, CEO ofestigio Sgambaro, one of 13 Italian companies facing the tax.
Mr. constantini pledged that the company will try to maintain exports to the US in the coming time, but noted that this will not last long if the situation does not change.
The potential pasta tax rate comes from an anti-dumping complaint filed by two US companies with the US Department of Commerce in July last year. In the lawsuit, 8th Avenue Food & Provisions and Winland Foods accused a number of Italian companies of selling pasta to the US at lower prices than normal.
The complaint prompted a U.S. Department of Commerce-led investigation, which began by asking La Molisana andestificio Lucio Garofalo to provide documents. These are the two Italian companies with the largest volume of pasta sales to the US.
As a result, the two companies sold pasta to the US under normal value, uncooperative, providing incomplete and unreliable data, according to the US Department of Commerces September announcement.
Accordingly, the US Department of Commerce decided to impose a tax rate of 91%, combined with the current tax rate of 15% on goods from the European Union (EU), raising the total amount of pasta tax from Italy to 107%.
The actual tax rate may vary depending on the final assessment results of the Commerce Department, expected to be completed on February 18, 2026 with the possibility of an additional 60-day extension, a US official said.
Members of the European Commission (EC) have also urged the Trump administration to reconsider pasta tariffs, along with many other EU goods.
