Trump’s Pasta tariffs: it’s time to make Pasta from scratch

If you’ve ever wandered down the pasta aisle and tossed a bag of your favorite Italian fusilli or rigatoni into the cart without thinking twice, those days might soon be over. Italian pasta brands are warning that skyrocketing import taxes could make authentic pasta in the U.S. a luxury item.

Yes, read that again. A-luxury-item.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced a staggering 92% antidumping duty on pasta made by Italy’s top producers, including La Molisana, along with an additional 15% import tariff from the Trump administration’s trade policies toward the European Union. That’s a jaw-dropping 107% in total duties, meaning the cost of importing Italian pasta could more than double overnight.

For family-owned producers like La Molisana, based in Campobasso in southern Italy, the new tariffs are devastating. “It’s an incredibly important market for us,” said Giuseppe Ferro to reporters, whose company employs 350 people and generates roughly $400 million in annual revenue. “But no one has those kinds of margins.”

In other words, selling pasta in America will soon be too expensive to be sustainable.

This isn’t just bad news for Italian businesses. It’s a blow to pasta lovers across the U.S. Authentic Italian brands could start disappearing from supermarket shelves as soon as January, leaving Americans to rely on alternative pasta options. But the question that might arise is: will the flavor and quality ever be quite the same?

The Campobasso region, like many parts of rural Italy, depends heavily on local pasta factories. Losing a key export market like the United States could ripple through the local economy, affecting jobs and family-run farms that supply high-quality durum wheat. “It would be a real shame to have the market snatched from us for no real reason,” Ferro told reporters.

While Italian exporters are urging the Commerce Department to reconsider the ruling, there’s growing concern that the decision might stick. For American consumers, that means one thing: pasta prices are about to boil over.

So, what people can do? Here’s an idea: if imported spaghetti will soon cost a fortune, why not learn to make it yourself?

Join one of our hands-on pasta-making classes and discover how to craft fresh tagliatelle, tortellini, and gnocchi from scratch. You’ll learn traditional Italian techniques from real chefs, plus you will enjoy a glass of wine while cooking.

Because if pasta is going to cost a million dollars, you might as well have the satisfaction of saying: “I made it myself.”