Businesses in the Bronx\u2019s Little Italy say a proposed tariff on imported Italian pasta could drive prices up and strain customer budgets.<\/p>\n
The Teitel family has been selling Italian olive oil, cheeses and pasta on Arthur Avenue for more than a century.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf somebody\u2019s selling something up the street for $3, we\u2019re selling it for $2.49,\u201d said Mike Teitel, of Teitel Brothers.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Department of Commerce says some Italian pasta brands have been undercutting prices. A 92% duty is now under consideration, along with an existing 15% tariff \u2014 a change that could double pasta prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers they were talking about are crazy,\u201d Mike Teitel said.<\/p>\n
Gil Teitel says the family is committed to keeping longtime shoppers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have customers three generations and four generations and we\u2019re not looking to lose them,\u201d said Gil Teitel.<\/p>\n
At Teitel Brothers, pasta is central to the business. They import it from Italy three times a year, hundreds of pounds at a time. Mike Teitel says they\u2019re stocked for now, but a new tariff could force them to buy even more at once.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping it doesn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s almost inevitable that it will,\u201d Mike Teitel said.<\/p>\n
When asked whether they would switch to American-made pasta, Gil Teitel had a simple answer: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Down the street at Mike\u2019s Deli, owner David Greco says the proposal is already creating concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s out of control. The tariff has been affecting small business,\u201d Greco said.<\/p>\n
If the duty goes into effect in January, he says menu prices will rise.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prices would have to go up,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are definitely feeling it. I have to tell you, our customers come to us on Arthur Avenue because it\u2019s so much cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tariff remains a proposal, and businesses say they\u2019re hoping it stays that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Businesses in the Bronx\u2019s Little Italy say a proposed tariff on imported Italian pasta could drive prices up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,17374,9,24,63,20954,22185,2083,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-37980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-little-italy","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pasta","tag-pasta-lovers","tag-tariffs","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}