Italy escapes higher U.S. tariffs on some products

by Bloomberg Feb 15, 2020

Italy escaped higher U.S. trade tariffs on some exported goods after directly lobbying administration officials in Washington, according to the country’s foreign minister.

“Italy today emerges undamaged from the revision of the list of products subjected to tariffs imposed by the U.S. last October,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio boasted in a statement on Saturday.

For example, the 25% tariff set last October on one of Italy’s most famous food products—Parmesan cheese—won’t be increased.

In a sign of the delicate economic environment facing European nations, Italy reached out directly to the U.S. Ivan Scalfarotto, undersecretary at the foreign ministry, told Bloomberg in an interview that Italy deserves special treatment because it’s not part of the Airbus SE consortium at the heart of a long-running trade dispute between Europe and the U.S. He discussed the issue with U.S. officials last month.

“We’re doing everything possible to limit the impact on Italy, but the Americans have the upper hand,” said Scalfarotto, from the small Italy Alive party led by ex-premier Matteo Renzi. “Italy isn’t part of the Airbus consortium, and tariffs will have a cost for American companies, restaurants, families.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said Friday it will increase the tariff rate imposed on aircraft imported from the European Union to 15% from 10% on March 18. Last fall, the World Trade Organization said the U.S. could legally impose tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of European exports in retaliation for Europe’s aid to Airbus.

In October, the U.S. imposed 10% duties on Airbus aircraft and 25% tariffs on a range of European consumer exports including Scotch whisky, French wine and Spanish olives.

Scalfarotto pressed Italy’s case in Washington in late January, meeting with senior officials at the White House, the State Department, the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as lawmakers from both houses of Congress. He said they gave him no assurances.

Italy is in danger of missing its already unambitious growth targets for 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak, Deputy Finance Minister Antonio Misiani said in an interview on Wednesday. The government targets 0.6% growth for this year, and output unexpectedly shrank 0.3 percentage points in the final quarter of 2019.