New York Delis Are Preparing for a Pasta Apocalypse

Photo: Scott Eells/Bloomberg/Getty Images

What’s the latest in the will-they-won’t-they world of global food tariffs? Last week, The Wall Street Journal sent fusilli freaks scrambling with its claim that “Italian pasta is poised to disappear” due to some complicated and punitive potential tariffs. The Department of Commerce has reportedly proposed the 92 percent tariff against 13 major brands accused of selling products in the United States below market value. (If you’ve ever wondered how Rummo spaghetti can be so cheap, you’re not alone.) The brands include the big blue giant Barilla and Rummo, as well as Pasta Garofalo, Giuseppe Cocco, and others. In response, the producers are reportedly threatening to simply pull their products, The Atlantic notes, and the whole situation could be generally dire news for New York’s Italian grocers. A White House spokesperson told CBS News that the companies in question still have “several months to continue participating in this review,” but that hasn’t stopped New York operators from worrying and brainstorming solutions now.

Joe’s Deli, a couple blocks away from Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, carries several of the named brands, including La Molisana. But the management is more concerned with what happens to prepared foods where the effects of any increased costs would be amplified. “If we’ve been charging 50 or 55 bucks for a baked ziti and now we have to charge $75 — it’s just not something we’re willing to do to our customers,” second-generation owner Anthony Ruscigno says. They’d have no choice, he says, but to find another producer. “We can’t stop serving the baked ziti — it’s almost like telling a pizza place you can’t do pizza.”

Ruscigno isn’t the only one fretting. Downtown, on the corner of Grand and Mott, Lou Di Palo says his family store has already been feeling the squeeze from the 15 percent tariff levied on E.U. imports, as well as the depreciation of the dollar, increased electricity costs, and other factors. “It’s creating a tremendous challenge for us. It means that I’m gonna be working here for nothing,” he says. Any pasta tariff would compound the pain. “It’s really — it’s really not fair. Maybe it should be limited to certain companies, or maybe they should negotiate with the companies,” he says. “But I don’t see how the Italian pasta costs that much less than American pastas.”

As my colleague Rachel Handler first reported in 2020, the world of pasta importation is surprisingly complicated and filled with scheming. At the heart of these newly proposed tariffs is the act of dumping, selling products below market value to gain a competitive edge over local goods. The Times reports:

The United States first imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Italian pasta producers about 30 years ago. At the behest of American companies, the Department of Commerce routinely investigates Italian producers for cheaply selling pasta.

This year, an investigation was requested by two American companies, 8th Avenue Food & Provisions, which owns Ronzoni pasta, and Winland Foods, which makes pasta under several brands, including San Giorgio and Prince. 

[…]

The Commerce Department looked at the sales of Garofalo and La Molisana, another large Italian pasta producer, from July 2023 to June 2024. The department said that the companies had failed to provide the requested information and that, therefore, a penalty tariff would be imposed.

But at a store like Di Palo’s — a spot with a reputation as a destination for quality Italian ingredients — switching to an American-made competitor wouldn’t be good for business. “I’m not gonna sacrifice the product that I sell — it’s what we specialize in,” Di Palo says. “If I become like everyone else, start selling a lot of the American ‘Italian’ products, or if I start substituting a lesser quality, then those people for sure are not gonna come.” Di Palo says he isn’t political, but he does wonder if there’s some unspoken motivation behind the tariffs threat: Does someone want more of these companies producing in the States? Are they willing to sacrifice the consumer, on a limited budget, who just wants some decent orecchiette?

If the pasta tariff goes through, Cathy Coluccio Fazzolari of Borough Park’s D. Coluccio & Sons says customers won’t only be impacted by higher prices. “The other problem is that all the duty has to be paid in advance or when the shipment arrives,” she explains. “A lot of small players are not going to be able to pay in advance for these large quantities of pasta.” For customers who just want to make some authentic cacio e pepe at home, that means paying $10 or $11 for a box of spaghetti wouldn’t even be an option since the spaghetti wouldn’t get to the shelves at all.