Overview
- President Donald Trump lowered tariffs on beef, tomatoes, bananas and coffee to help ease food prices ahead of the midterms.
- The Commerce Department’s review assigned a preliminary 91.74% antidumping duty to some Italian pasta exporters, which with the roughly 15% EU levy pushes the effective rate above 100%.
- The White House rejects talk of a political drive against Italy, describing the pasta case as a technical, semi‑judicial process established by Congress that the President cannot direct.
- Officials say producers were asked for complete sales, cost and production data and can submit the required information by January, which could bring duties back to past levels near 7–10% or even 0%.
- The companies under review, including La Molisana and Garofalo, account for about 16% of Italian pasta imports to the U.S., and most pasta consumed in the country is made domestically.