L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 4 I n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a d e d o e s n o t m a k e f o r c h e e r f u l r e a d i n g these days, with talk of tariffs, geopoliti- cal tension, broken supply c h a i n s , a n d g e n e r a l e c o - nomic uncertainty filling the headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. And yet, in the m i d d l e o f a l l t h a t g l o o m , one relationship keeps prov- ing stubbornly resilient: the one between Italy and the United States. S p e a k i n g a t t h e 1 1 1 t h Assembly of the Ameri- c a n C h a m b e r o f C o m - merce in Italy, AmCham's Secretary General, Simone Crolla, observed that trade between the two countries now surpassed $110 billion, c o n f i r m i n g t h e U n i t e d States as one of the most important destinations for Italian exports. The figures are striking on their own, y e t t h e m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g question is why they keep c l i m b i n g : a t a m o m e n t when households and com- panies alike are watching every dollar, the Ameri- can appetite for Italian products shows no sign of fading, and the reasons for t h a t e x t e n d w e l l b e y o n d economics. For generations, Ameri- cans bought Italian food, wine, fashion, and design, and yet the relationship has long since outgrown those familiar stereotypes: some of the strongest export g r o w t h n o w c o m e s f r o m pharmaceuticals, indus- trial machinery, trans- port at i on equi pment , and other highly special- ized goods that never turn up in a glossy tourism cam- paign, so that the modern success of Made in Italy is, by now, as much about spe- cialized industries as it is a b o u t c u l t u r e . C u l t u r e , though, still counts for a great deal. A r e c e n t i n t e r n a t i o n a l consumer survey, highlight- e d b y R e p u b b l i c a , f o u n d that roughly three out of four shoppers around the world would be willing to p a y m o r e f o r a n I t a l i a n product. This finding says a lot about consumers' expec- tations, since for a great m a n y p e o p l e t h e w o r d s "Made in Italy" became a k i n d o f s h o r t h a n d , a p r o m i s e o f q u a l i t y a n d craftsmanship, of design and authenticity and real expertise, developed over decades; in a global market- place crowded with (often incredibly cheap) alterna- tives, this kind of trust may be the most valuable com- modity of all. Indeed, trust like that does not appear overnight, and it certainly is not con- jured by advertising alone; it is the slow work of repu- t a t i o n , b u i l t p r o d u c t b y p r o d u c t a n d i n d u s t r y b y industry across time and generations, and for Ameri- cans, the story begins, in good part, with immigra- tion. Long before Italian goods became fixtures of American life, Italian immi- grants created communities that held on to the foods and habits of the regions they had left behind: just think of the products like olive oil or Parmigiano Reg- giano which, at first, circu- lated only within the neigh- borhood and then, little by little, found their way onto the wider American table, until what had begun as an immigrant's link to home became part of Ameri- can culture itself. It is hard now to picture an American kitchen with- out that Italian influence at t h e s t o v e , a n d t h e s a m e p r o c e s s p l a y e d o u t , a l t h o u g h o n a d i f f e r e n t scale, in other areas of the market, where Italian furni- ture, eyewear, luxury goods, household appliances, and even industrial equipment h a v e a l l p r o f i t e d f r o m decades of familiarity that t u r n e d I t a l y i n t o a trusted point of refer- ence. It is this familiarity that lies behind a point the jour- nalist Federico Rampini m a d e r e c e n t l y , w r i t i n g about Italy and the United States, when he noted that whatever tensions flare up b e t w e e n g o v e r n m e n t s , American consumers go on showing a genuine appreci- ation for Italian products, a point worth holding onto, because governments may negotiate tariffs and trade deals but consumers simply m a k e c h o i c e s , a n d t h o s e choices tend to reflect per- ceptions based on long-last- ing processes and interac- tion. T h e r e a l s t r e n g t h o f Made in Italy lies exactly in this marriage of familiari- ty and credibility, and it reaches a good deal further than food and fashion, into t h e p h a r m a c e u t i c a l s a n d a d v a n c e d m a n u f a c t u r i n g that have become some of the country's most impor- tant drivers of sales abroad. This is perhaps the least The promise behind the label: why America still chooses Made in Italy FRANCESCA BEZZONE NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS CONTINUED TO PAGE 6 From food and fashion to design and homeware, Italian products continue to enjoy strong recognition in the United States, where the appeal of Made in Italy extends well beyond luxury goods (Image generated using Adobe Illustrator AI)

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