IAP 132: "What Is America Without Pasta?" Defending Italian Food with Congressman Lou Barletta

 What IS America without pasta?  Without prosciutto?  Or parmigiano??  In this episode, we'll ask those very questions when we're joined by former Congressman Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, the new Chairman of the American Italian Food Coalition (AIFC), a consortium of over 450 Italian companies seeking to protect Italian pasta, coffee, biscuits and wafers from US's new tariff policies.   The "Protector of Parmigiano" tells us about the coalition's recent success in preventing the expansion of import taxes to a broad range of Italian foods. Since last year, those taxes have added 25% to the price of genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Scotch whiskey, Spanish olives and French wine as a result of retaliatory tariffs on European products in response to subsidies Airbus received from some Europe nations.   He'll share how the tariffs would have affected Italian American mom-and-pop businesses and how these taxes would have directly contributed to an eventual demise of Italian American culture. And, we'll explore the continuing strength of Italy as a trade partner with the United States.