Mamma Mia!
What will they tax next?
One note about culture: When groups experience something in great detail, they have a more nuanced language about the subject. For example, the Inuit folks have over 100 words for snow, whereas most of us have maybe half a dozen or so. Italians have over 100 different types of pasta. Before my first study abroad in Italy, I could name … maybe a dozen-ish?
Imagine my surprise on Monday when the Trump administration announced it is considering 107% tariffs on pasta! Mamma Mia! Needless to say, the Italians are furious! They made their concerns known to Howard Lutnick, who has the scars to show for it. They’re so boiling mad they can cook pasta with their anger, if not a steel pan! Don’t be surprised if they rebrand their strozzapreti as trumpopreti! Dye it red like a power tie. Ummm, did I mention the nickname for strozzapreti is “priest choker”? I could totally see Democrats’ doing a fundraiser with it.
So what’s going on? For years, Italian pastafici (pasta factories) exported pasta to the United States. American pasta makers complained about dumping, and the Commerce Department fined the Italian companies a little bit to make everyone happy. But 92% is huge.
White House spokester Kush Desai said it is still early: they could change their minds. It seems the there are concerns that some reports have been written in Italian - the nerve of those folks! - and some reports are incomplete. Italians say new economic analysts don’t understand Italian accounting practice, and that Italian firms are doing what they’ve always done in the past.
“Some of the affected companies say there is some intra-Italian skullduggery going on. Winland, the complainant, is owned by private equity company Investindustrial, which is run by Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi. Investindustrial owns two Italy-based pasta producers, La Doria and gourmet food chain Eataly, and has a partnership with a further Italian pasta maker, Pastificio Di Martino. None of those three pasta exporters is affected by the antidumping duties. They could potentially clean up in the U.S. market at the expense of their rivals who are facing punitive duties. “
Eataly runs many tourist cooking classes in Roma, and pasta in Italy is cheaper than in the US. But American companies using the government to limit competition? Mamma Mia! A person close to Investindustrial said it plays no role in drafting antidumping complaints. I note that they didn’t rule out “voice to text”. Erick Erickson tweeted that a large amount of flour for Italian pasta comes from North Dakota because it is cheaper flour. I think this means the government will have to provide a bailout to farmers, to be paid out of the tariffs on the pasta made by firms in Italy who imported North Dakota flour.
Allow me to add: There are so many things going on here that separating the durum wheat from the chaff is tricky. Maybe former administrations winked at the dumping, or the new analysts aren’t up to speed on things, or maybe it is influence peddling. Do any congressional leaders have an investment in the private equity firm? The truth is not always easy to discern.
If I can give any advice, it would be, “Go eat in Italy: the food is really good!” I’ve never enjoyed pesto sauce in the US, but I love it over there.
 | A guest post by
|
Good morning, everyone. Teengirl and I are signed up to work at the food bank this morning. We'll see how she's feeling: she has a head cold. If she's poorly, I'll go and do the work of two!
Back from the food warehouse. Just me: Teengirl stayed home being poorly. It is Thanksgiving Food Drive time for neighborhoods and organizations, and there were massive amounts of donations to sort.