In April 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump reignited global trade tensions by announcing sweeping new tariffs on dozens of countries, sending shockwaves across financial markets, supply chains and economies around the world.
In CGTN Europe's new documentary 'Tariff Troubles: Europe's Age of Uncertainty', reporter Iolo ap Dafydd explores how this unpredictable 'tariff war' is impacting Europe's heritage industries, from Ireland to Switzerland and Italy. Through on-the-ground stories and expert insights, the film traces the real human and economic consequences of shifting U.S. trade policy.
#Tariffs #Trump #Documentary #TariffTroubles
In CGTN Europe's new documentary 'Tariff Troubles: Europe's Age of Uncertainty', reporter Iolo ap Dafydd explores how this unpredictable 'tariff war' is impacting Europe's heritage industries, from Ireland to Switzerland and Italy. Through on-the-ground stories and expert insights, the film traces the real human and economic consequences of shifting U.S. trade policy.
#Tariffs #Trump #Documentary #TariffTroubles
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NewsTranscript
00:00In a few moments I will sign a historic executive order instituting reciprocal
00:08tariffs. On April 2nd, 2025, American President Donald Trump announced a long
00:14list of trade tariffs against dozens of countries. This is the beginning of
00:20Liberation Day. The grievance is the sense that America is no longer the king
00:27of the castle. We're in the process of imposing reciprocal tariffs. If you
00:31want to do business with us, you do it playing by our rules. April 2nd is a
00:37liberating day for our country. Trump will have done a lot of damage not only for the
00:41world but also for his own economy. The weeks after the announcement were marred
00:46by confusion and uncertainty for international leaders and businesses as
00:51the White House administration chopped and changed its tariffs on an almost
00:56daily basis, apparently on the whim of the president.
01:00Late this afternoon, a major reversal from the White House. President Trump has
01:04announced that there will be a 90-day pause.
01:08Because they told him, if you retaliate, we're going to double it.
01:11Trump is openly hostile to a range of countries and Europe is no exception.
01:17European Union, they're very tough, very, very tough traitors. It was formed in order to
01:22screw the United States. I mean, let's be honest. Europe's biggest exports to the United States
01:28are steel and pharmaceuticals. But millions of American consumers appreciate exclusive and
01:35traditional brands. Products made by cheese makers in Northern Italy and watchmakers in the
01:41Swiss Alps. These unique European industries are steeped in the history and heritage of the continent,
01:48and in many ways, a source of soft power. The threat of these tariffs are unpredictable,
01:55with Donald Trump making off-the-cuff policy announcements affecting European and global businesses.
02:03We're on a journey to meet Europeans behind the headlines, and take the pulse of businesses from Cork to
02:08Zurich, as they try to navigate their way through this new age of economic uncertainty.
02:10We've just arrived in Ireland, and we're heading south to a whisky-diff,
02:13to a whisky-diff, to a whisky-diff, to a whisky-diff, to a whisky-diff.
02:17We're on a journey to meet Europeans behind the headlines, and take the pulse of businesses from
02:24Cork to Zurich, as they try to navigate their way through this new age of economic uncertainty.
02:33We've just arrived in Ireland, and we're heading south to a whisky-distillery on the Atlantic
02:41coast. There's been a boom in whisky-making in Ireland for the last 15-20 years, and we're
02:46going to talk to one of the owners about tariffs and the disruption to trade.
02:51Today, the global whisky industry is estimated to be worth more than 70 billion dollars.
03:09Ireland's exports to the United States is valued at just over a billion dollars, and
03:15it shipped almost five and a half million cases of whisky there last year.
03:20A business that has traditionally been dominated by three or four major brands. But in recent
03:27years, a range of smaller whisky start-ups have entered the market, specifically targeting
03:33the Irish diaspora in the US, which is why almost half of Ireland's exports are destined
03:40for the States.
03:42First, when you have a boom in any sector, what typically happens is only a small number of
03:49the companies are financially sound, and the rest of them are hope companies, what I would
03:54say. That they basically are hoping to achieve and acquire a valuation based on a perception,
04:00or maybe a pipeline of sales, and sell themselves on to one of the big players. So when you get
04:06a shock like this, it's a significant jolt to, for example, Irish whisky, of which there's probably
04:13three or four really strong elemental brands.
04:18One of the new distilleries is here in Southern Ireland. Michael Scully is a local farmer who
04:24decided ten years ago to use his farmland to grow his own barley to distill into whisky.
04:30Well, what we specialise at Clannochiltie is making a single pot still whisky. Salt spray,
04:35we've got sea mist crashing in over our heads in the wintertime. The sea salt here, it permeates
04:41through every single grain here. It makes it a very special and unique place to grow barley,
04:47to make some great whisky, and we're really proud of that.
04:50How many bottles of whisky will you get out of your field? How much does it produce?
04:55We would hope in this particular field we'll probably get about 5,000 bottles of premium
05:01single pot still Clannochiltie whisky.
05:03See, I can see the smile on your face because you can hear the clinking of those bottles.
05:12With your dream of establishing this distillery and then putting that into practice,
05:16you obviously had that American market in mind.
05:18We've invested a lot in the American market. I have a founding partner working in America.
05:23It always has been a big target. The Irish diaspora in America is huge, and they love anything Irish.
05:30And while it's competitive, I think that will remain to be an advantage for us in that market.
05:36But America is going through a difficult phase at the moment. If you go back over 100 years,
05:42Ireland was the biggest supplier of whisky to the entire world.
05:45So it's really good that these new distilleries have opened up, but this uncertainty and possible recession
05:53is actually coming at a really bad time.
05:59Records show that whisky has been distilled in Ireland at least since the 12th century.
06:04Irish whisky first arrived in America with immigrants from the Emerald Isle over 400 years ago.
06:11By the 1800s, more than half of all whisky sales in the US came from Ireland.
06:17But the introduction of prohibition in America in the 1920s decimated exports.
06:23A hundred years later, and the Irish whisky industry is still particularly vulnerable to a drop-off in sales
06:31on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
06:34Don't forget, the reason that Irish whisky collapsed as a brand,
06:39we used to have much greater production than the Scots, was prohibition.
06:43When America closed off its booze, the Scots were allowed and could still sell to Canada,
06:51because Canada was part of the British Dominion, we lost the entire industry.
06:55So we know what happens when America closes, our industry folds.
07:00So this is our distillery. We are adding yeast to our wort,
07:05and we allow that to propagate and to ferment for over 120 hours.
07:10Most distilleries only do 60 hours.
07:13We do that because we believe that it gives extra flavours to our whisky.
07:18Basically what we're doing is we're making a beer without the hops,
07:22and then we distill that beer. That is the essence of distilling.
07:25So here we have, you can see the, you can get the smell.
07:32Just put your head in there and just get a good smell of it.
07:35Oh, what a difference.
07:39It really hits you, doesn't it?
07:41It really hits you.
07:42Yeah.
07:43Before Donald Trump came back into the White House, you know,
07:46he's been talking about for two years now that he wants to reimpose tariffs.
07:51It's a beautiful word he says in the English language.
07:53Did you have a good feeling, Michael, that yes?
07:56Something, this uncertainty, this trouble is going to come.
08:00We still don't know, by the way, what the outcome of this will be.
08:03Like, as we speak, right now it's ten percent,
08:06and in another 40, 50 days it's going to be, you know,
08:10a totally new conversation again.
08:12The problem with that is the uncertainty.
08:14It's not the tariffs on their own.
08:16We can deal with tariffs.
08:18There are ways and means of just dealing with it.
08:20It's the uncertainty that it is creating throughout the world markets,
08:24and that's my concern.
08:27There is now some certainty for Michael and the rest of Europe,
08:31with Trump and EU President Ursula von der Leyen agreeing
08:35to a blanket 15 percent tariff on European exports,
08:39apart from steel, pharmaceuticals and other goods.
08:43The question remains whether Trump's hardball tactics
08:47will force European businesses to invest in other regions of the world.
08:52I think additional increased investment now will go to other markets
08:56in Asia, in Africa.
08:58We've been doing it in Japan for the last four years.
09:01Our whiskey sells really well in Japan,
09:03and that has given us the confidence to go into the Asian market.
09:07We have actually got a consultant working for us
09:10for the last nine months in China,
09:12and we do expect that we will be making inroads
09:16into the Chinese market really soon.
09:18Economics is what happens in your mind.
09:24People don't seem to get this.
09:25The economy is ephemeral.
09:27It's a notion of what's going to happen in the future.
09:30If you have a positive notion,
09:32if you feel you have some clarity,
09:34or what they use in economics, the word visibility,
09:37then you say, okay, I'm going to invest,
09:38I'm going to double down on something I'm doing,
09:41I'm going to spend money.
09:42Why is this?
09:44Because of this very fragile notion called confidence.
09:47And confidence is typically a function of certainty.
09:51You destroy the certainty, as Donald Trump is doing,
09:54you destroy the confidence, people retrench,
09:56and what you find is that economic confidence
10:00travels across the world like a virus.
10:03It's like a pandemic.
10:05When we are confident, we are confident together.
10:09When we are nervous, we get nervous together.
10:12And that's exactly what Trump has done.
10:14He's triggered the economic equivalent of the corona pandemic
10:20in the minds of people who make the decisions.
10:23We're driving from the south of Ireland towards the north,
10:31and we're crossing what is effectively an anonymous international border
10:36because we're crossing into the United Kingdom.
10:39But Brexit, and now trade tariffs,
10:42it's still highlighting the differences
10:44between the north and south of the island.
10:46The Titanic, the famous ship that sank on its maiden voyage to New York,
10:57was built here in Belfast at the Harlan and Wolf shipyard just over there.
11:01The Titanic Museum is here in the docks.
11:04It was designed to carry passengers and trade
11:07between the British Isles and America.
11:10That trade to the west over the Atlantic Ocean was hugely important
11:15and still is for Irish, European and British companies.
11:19And it illustrates the connection of people and goods
11:23between Ireland, Europe and America.
11:30Welcome to The Real.
11:32I can smell the whisky.
11:34Belfast distillery, the first distillery in 80 years in Belfast.
11:38All this here is all the history of shipbuilding.
11:42So anything here is all but here from pre-1910.
11:46From that period, that's amazing.
11:48From that year 10.
11:51How much has this threat of tariff or a trade war with Donald Trump in the United States
11:58impacted, do you think, the whisky industry here in Ireland?
12:01It damages a bit.
12:03We were projecting a million balls whisk a year in America.
12:07Now we're talking about 600,000.
12:10But for me it's 600,000 sales I never had last year.
12:14So for me it's still the right market to attack and the right market to get into.
12:18Did you foresee this coming with Donald Trump coming back into the White House?
12:23Or were you surprised like many businesses?
12:26Well, the last time he was in office he talked about tariffs.
12:29And so hoping for the best but he didn't.
12:33But that surprise, it happened.
12:35And that's what we just had to, we knew there was a possibility these tariffs were coming in.
12:41But the same token, there was no going back.
12:44We were still heading to the States to work away at it.
12:47And hopefully we'll do okay.
12:50Is there any satisfaction or hopes that because Belfast, Northern Ireland is still in the UK,
12:58that you might have some advantage there than bigger tariffs say in the Republic of Ireland
13:03or in the rest of the European Union?
13:05Well, we've brought the tariffs down to 10% at this point in time.
13:09Hopefully they keep telling us this big place is the best of both words.
13:15I hope it works out that way.
13:18I just wanted to catch up and see what's the latest from Donald Trump.
13:39So many changes and policies and announcements and so on.
13:43And while he was talking to business leaders in Washington DC yesterday,
13:48some bad news for him that for the first time in three years, the economy has contracted.
13:52It's down at an annual rate of 0.3%.
13:55And these are official American figures.
13:57He's justifying it by saying that there is $8 trillion worth of inroad investment.
14:02You have to keep an eye on what's happening almost day by day, week by week.
14:07And this is what creates the difficulties for companies as they try and manoeuvre
14:11and try and second guess there's always something new.
14:14There is some economic logic behind it, which is based on a thing called mercantilism.
14:20And the idea is that a country can only get rich if it exports more stuff than it imports.
14:27Then it gets other people's money, it spends that money on its own infrastructure.
14:31But the problem is that in practice, countries that have been successful with tariffs
14:37have tended to be very poor countries that want to build up industry.
14:42They need protection against the productivity of foreigners.
14:47And over time, industries are built up.
14:50But that was then, this is now.
14:55The idea that an already wealthy country can impose tariffs and impoverish its own people
15:03and then leapfrog to wealth seems inconceivable to me.
15:08This is unsound economics on a monumental scale.
15:13East of Ireland, into the heart of Western Europe, is another nation not yet part of any deal with the US,
15:20which is famed for manufacturing a specific and precise product.
15:28The Swiss watch industry on retail value is about 50 billion.
15:33There are 60,000 jobs at stake.
15:36It is important in terms of image and it's the third biggest export industry for Switzerland.
15:43The US market became the biggest market for the Swiss watch industry.
15:48It makes about one-fifth of our exports.
15:52When Mr. Trump announced that he might introduce very heavy punitive taxes on the Swiss exports,
16:02and you really felt the day after that people were shocked.
16:06First of all, because they announced 31%, which was one of the highest rates worldwide,
16:14because the Americans thought that we were really the bad guys,
16:18because we had a huge gap between what we import and what we export.
16:25I've just arrived in Switzerland, and I'm heading to see a comparatively small but prestigious Swiss watch company.
16:39It's an old firm founded about 200 years ago, but with a modern outlook.
16:43Some of their most expensive models sell for over a million dollars,
16:48and I want to see how much the US tax on goods will impact the sales of luxury watches.
16:58Switzerland's watchmaking heritage was born out of Europe's religious wars of the 1500s.
17:04French Protestants, known as the Huguenots, fled persecution from Catholics in France and headed to neutral Switzerland.
17:12Many ended up in Geneva, bringing their watchmaking expertise with them.
17:17A Protestant backlash and gained ostentatious jewellery meant that watches became the only accessories allowed because of their practical use.
17:27And so began the Swiss tradition of ever more complex and beautiful watches as buyers used them to compensate for banned items of jewellery.
17:41H. Moser and Company, founded by Henrik Moser in 1822, is one of the most respected brands.
17:48In 2012, the firm hit financial difficulties, and the Mosers sold it to another watchmaking family.
17:55Edouard Melan is the new chief executive and driving force now, behind the H. Moser brand.
18:02Our entry level is around $15,000 for very simple watches.
18:06Here we have a small complication, it's called a 30 seconds retrograde.
18:10So we have an element at the bottom of the watch there, where the second indication jumps every 30 seconds.
18:16That's a development that we made, something quite spectacular.
18:18Younger collector maybe, here it's water resistant, 120 meter, and we're around $20,000.
18:24Let's move up the scale here with something very spectacular.
18:28It's another skeleton, it's actually a streamliner skeleton tourbillon, here with gemstone.
18:34So we have what we call the rainbow setting on the bezel, in rose gold.
18:39So you will feel the weight difference with the other watches.
18:43And here we are around a little bit less than $200,000 on the watch like this, around $160,000, $170,000.
18:50So the price of gold has gone up.
18:52Yeah, and that's with last year's gold prices, because we're working today still with the gold that we acquired last year.
18:58Now the price is 40, 50% higher.
19:02I think it's all linked, the Swiss franc being very high, gold expensive, the tariffs, it's all part of the same problematic.
19:10But hopefully we'll find a solution soon.
19:12Your biggest market is the United States?
19:14As a single country it is, yeah.
19:16The direct impact of the threat of tariffs, or whatever tariffs are implemented, is what?
19:22Tough to say right now, I mean, it's been an amazing market for the Swiss watch industry in the recent months.
19:27For us, since August, every month has been a record month in terms of sell-out, so what gets out from the stores.
19:32So amazing, but at the same time, there's a lot of uncertainty right now.
19:36Is there people buying in advance, knowing that maybe the prices will go up?
19:40Because they will have to go up, because obviously the tariffs have been communicated and it will not go back.
19:47The question is, to what extent?
19:49Right now, it's still very, very good.
19:51We just don't know in one month, we're still going to be good.
19:54So, as CEO, you're obviously trying to bridge and to anticipate what is coming.
20:02But it's very, very difficult for you then to run a company along those lines.
20:07Yeah, but as always, you need to find solutions. You need to work with whatever is happening.
20:11What's good is, we're not the only one. The entire industry is impacted, so we need to work as an industry.
20:16We need to think of it more of a corporation and really developing an ecosystem.
20:21And when we suffer, we all suffer together, and it's the responsibility sometimes of the brands to support also the network of suppliers.
20:28Because the big risk for us is to lose knowledge, to lose expertise, because if there's no more work for those people, they will disappear.
20:35When I look at you, Eduard, I don't see a man who's worried about the tariffs so much.
20:49I don't see somebody who's losing sleep over what Mr. Trump is talking about.
20:54As we said, Swiss franc is very strong. Additional tariffs, gold is very expensive.
20:59So, what are we going to sell in the US? At what price? We're implementing a price increase.
21:04Every brand is kind of discussing, we call each other, it's like, how much are you increasing? What are you doing?
21:08To try to be all in the similar range, to be honest, because I think you don't want to completely be off and disturb the market.
21:17So, if you have, like, 10%, maybe it's acceptable, but if it's 20%, 30%, oh my God, this is going to be a lot of money to absorb for the end consumer.
21:28The worst does seem to have happened.
21:30Trump has slapped a 39% tariff on Switzerland, the fourth highest globally.
21:36And that, despite the Swiss being a big source of foreign direct investment in the United States.
21:42352 billion dollars at the end of 2023.
21:47It will force companies to look for business outside the US.
21:52But just like Irish whiskey, Americans are not the only ones buying Swiss watches.
21:58The US is an important market, yes, but we are in 45 different markets.
22:02And all the others are waiting for more watches for Moser, so I think we're in a very privileged position right now as a luxury brand.
22:09Unfortunately, it's not the case for everyone.
22:14President Trump's haphazard approach to trade has had many unintended consequences.
22:20One of which is an increase in the trade deficit between Switzerland and the United States,
22:26caused directly by unpredictability in the US economy, which has itself led to the 39% tariff.
22:35In the US after the election, we're all over the moon seeing Trump coming in and they thought that the economy would be booming.
22:43They realized very quickly that he brought a lot of uncertainty.
22:48And what you do, you buy Swiss francs and you buy gold.
22:53And you have to know that Switzerland is the biggest refining place in the world for precious metals.
23:02We refine two thirds of the worldwide volumes of precious metals.
23:08On gold specifically, the American investors, to avoid the uncertainty, are buying everything they can in gold,
23:18because gold is always seen as something tangible.
23:22Even if everything else goes bad, then you still have your gold.
23:26And they are buying anything which is in Swiss francs.
23:29So they bought a lot of gold and then all of a sudden we had a huge demand on those one kilo lingots towards the US.
23:38And the trade deficit grew tremendously.
23:41Of course, the Swiss watch industry isn't just about attractive brands making beautiful designs.
23:51It's also about technology.
23:53In the famous watchmaking region of Western Switzerland, there's an innovative family-run company at the forefront of that tech.
24:01They don't make watches, but make and supply the vital components of watches for some of Switzerland's biggest brands.
24:10Founded in 1919, Jean Zanger and company recently opened a state-of-the-art facility.
24:17And the business is valued at tens of millions of dollars.
24:21With a range of Swiss clients throughout the watch industry, they have their finger on the pulse of trends
24:28and possible pitfalls of the watchmaking industry.
24:32So we produce what we call the face of the watch, meaning the dials.
24:36This is where you can actually read the time on your watch inside of the case.
24:41We produce many hundred thousand pieces every year for many different brands.
24:45All of them are Swiss-made brands.
24:47This is where we build the foundation of the dial.
24:50It's a stamping machine.
24:52Those machines were built in the 1950s and you cannot buy them anymore.
24:56Only a few ones on the market.
24:58There's a huge wheel on top.
25:00It's turning, hitting the dials.
25:02And the dials are these, the part of the watch?
25:04Yes.
25:05This is the very first step.
25:07So the tool that we use is built in-house.
25:10We set it on the machine and once again we stamp it with 150 tons.
25:15Wow.
25:16To create that?
25:17To create that.
25:18And this is a unique dial with a very specific design.
25:22And each different dial has a different design.
25:28But this trade war now and a new American government, how do you assess that?
25:35And how do you see the potential threat to this watchmaking industry?
25:40You have many different impacts right now.
25:42You have the war in Ukraine.
25:44You have the war in Israel and Palestine.
25:47You have the Chinese real estate issue.
25:51And now you have the trade war that is led by Mr. Trump.
25:54So you have so many different impacts right now.
25:57That makes the visibility and the situation extremely difficult to face.
26:01From what you're saying, geopolitics is having actually a bigger impact globally than even finance as it did in 2008 or 2020-21 with Covid.
26:13Yes.
26:14Geopolitics is something beyond control and that makes it a lot harder for businesses.
26:18Exactly.
26:19And what is totally different between the crisis I've been facing in the past is the fact that the situation that we are living in started already in the end of 2023.
26:29But no, we're living in this kind of world, difficult world, since more than two or soon three years.
26:36You've got to learn to live in that environment for maybe a few years.
26:41We are forced to, so we have no choice.
26:44And for that what we're trying to do is to reduce our cost.
26:47We've seen in the factory today, we do have a worker that works by hand.
26:53And we're trying to see if we could replace a few of the operations that they do by hand.
26:59And actually to use those people for a more complicated operation.
27:05This is a very final step of producing it all.
27:08We're actually adding the Luminova, the material which is going to glow in the dark, inside of the white parts that you can see here on the screen.
27:18It has to be extremely delicate because if you touch the dial itself, all the applied, it's defective again.
27:24So it needs really a lot of knowledge and you don't really see it on the screen.
27:29So we need to be very skilled, patient and with a lot of texturity.
27:34Bringing manufacturing back to the States, which is what Donald Trump says he wants.
27:39He thinks that the American economy is being taken advantage of.
27:43Do you think that the Americans could replicate what you guys are doing here in Switzerland?
27:50I strongly believe that it could not be the case.
27:53It's all this history we sell behind the watch.
27:56This is how the best brands actually sell watches.
28:00Because we have a history.
28:02If we were forced to produce watches in the US, nobody would buy it.
28:08Because once again, you buy the idea of a unique country, extremely clean, extremely precise and actually it doesn't make any sense to produce this in the US.
28:20And then the skills that we have here is very unique.
28:24This knowledge is really here.
28:26And it's a mentality.
28:28You see those workers with those skills, with this capability to actually produce the same piece every day.
28:35It's really something we are very good at doing in this region.
28:39It was very funny for me to read in American press that they just discovered that we are one of the main investors in the US.
28:53We are creating a lot of jobs.
28:56The pharmaceuticals, the banks, investing a lot of money in the US since ever.
29:02And they are discovering that now.
29:04And of course the Swiss government is playing a lot on that.
29:07Saying, you see, we are the good guys because we always played by your rules.
29:14The Swiss are maybe not as loud, but maybe they are more efficient.
29:19They do it the quiet way.
29:21They don't say we are equivalent.
29:23We are a very small country.
29:258.5 million inhabitants.
29:28But we are very powerful in terms of economics.
29:31Switzerland will probably prevail, so as to say.
29:38We have always managed to get through storms.
29:43It hasn't prevailed yet because Switzerland has been left with that nightmare scenario of 39%, one of the highest in the world.
29:54Donald Trump initially threatened a tariff of 20% on the European Union, a tax on goods.
30:00Of that magnitude would have an enormous impact on all European exports to the United States, including on a famous export loved by millions of Americans, Parmigiano or Parmesan cheese, which is made on the other side of the Italian Alps over there in the distance.
30:17And that's where I'm headed next.
30:20After passing through the magnificent Italian Alps, the landscape changes dramatically.
30:26Mountains and then hills give way to flat, fertile lands, perfect for agriculture that's a part of the identity, culture and heritage of this region.
30:38Italian food is admired across the world, especially its wine, meat and cheeses.
30:49Every year tons of produce is exported globally, especially Parma ham and of course Parmigiano.
30:57Here in Parma, in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna region, famous for its gastronomy and of course its cheese production.
31:06Mmm, perfecto.
31:21Food is our second important sector in expert is worth between 60 and 67 billion of euros.
31:31That is about 10% of Italian expert and it accounts for 4% of GDP.
31:40So it's cheese, but also wine, oil and so on.
31:44But everybody knows the Parmigiano cheese and, you know, some of these products are very much also related to the Italian image, to the Italian brand.
31:56This is part of soft power.
31:59Parmesan cheese originated in northern Italy around a thousand years ago.
32:04It was devised by monks who wanted to create a durable cheese that would become an essential food for travelers and merchants.
32:13That durability made it the perfect cheese to export across Europe, especially before refrigeration changed the food trade.
32:23When rural Italians began their mass migration to America in the late 1800s, they brought their cuisine with them.
32:32Italy and the US have, you know, historically very strong links.
32:37So that image of Italy as a place of good food and good quality of life has an intangible value which goes beyond the tangible value,
32:51which is also very important because actually if we think of export of food, the US is the most important market outside the EU.
33:02Last year, 16,000 tons of Parmigiano Reggiano was exported from Italy to the United States, about 22% of its total overseas sales, making America the biggest foreign market.
33:16It sold in the US at more than twice the price of domestic alternatives, and it was worth around 300 million US dollars to Italian cheese exporters in 2024.
33:28Because of its iconic status within the industry, it's known as the king of Italian cheeses.
33:34Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of Italian cheeses.
33:37Parmigiano Reggiano, accompagnami tu.
33:39Oh, wow.
33:40Oh, wow.
33:41Oh, wow.
33:42Wow, the salt.
33:43I can't all smell it already.
33:45It's really nice.
33:47Stefano Casali and his family have produced Parmigiano for over a century.
33:53Here we have a look.
33:54Here we have a look at the image.
33:55Sollbeitet from the deepygian.
33:56In the bottom of the bottom of the ground where it was deposited.
34:00The catch remained pulled down the ground.
34:07And as it starts, the top of the ground that was deposited within the ground is already deposited in the ground.
34:09And as it comes out, you can see the grain of the parmigiano reggiano, which is a formage that is duro,
34:16which has granules scales, and you can see it already.
34:21Then it turns out well, and is attached to the plate, which is smooth and compact.
34:28After that, it will be divided into two forms, which will be parmigiano reggiano,
34:36which will come in every caldaia.
34:39How heavy, it's heavy.
34:40Kilo, how many kilos?
34:4240 kg l'una.
34:4340 kg?
34:44Appena tolte, sono anche 50 kg.
34:45Poi sgocciolano, asciugano, diventano 40 kg l'una.
35:06Soldeva.
35:08Viene messo dentro a questi cestelli.
35:09Su tre?
35:10Sono tre per piano, ma cinque piani.
35:14Wow.
35:16Che è?
35:17E viene lasciato dentro a questa soluzione satura di sale per 17 giorni.
35:22Poi dopo 17 giorni viene estratto, lasciato asciugare un attimo e messo in magazzino ad aspettare i 24 mesi di stagionatura.
35:32Eccolo qua.
35:34Eccolo qua.
35:35C'è tutto il nostro formaggio, c'è tutto il nostro parmigiano reggiano.
35:41Produrre parmigiano reggiano per noi è sicuramente la cosa che ci ispira di più, perché nella nostra zona è un prodotto che ci dà onore, ci dà orgoglio, ci dà valore a quello che facciamo, al nostro lavoro.
35:57I dazzi sono, diciamo, la chiacchiera del momento. Possono essere sicuramente un problema, da come la vedo io, poi io non sono un esperto di politica.
36:08Al momento, tra di noi allevatori ci si dice, potrebbero, dalla mia punto di vista, diventare una preoccupazione se sono applicati in maniera pesante e per molto tempo.
36:23Allora potrebbe arrivare anche il momento in cui il consumatore decide di acquistare qualcosa che costa meno per mangiare bene lo stesso ma a un prezzo inferiore.
36:35The smell is fantastic, eh?
36:37Let's try it.
36:42Good?
36:42Voilà ?
36:43One, one.
36:45One, one, one, one, one.
36:47Mmm.
36:49While Trump has openly ridiculed the European Union, Italy seems to have an advantage with its far-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has been labelled the Trump whisperer.
37:02In April, she was welcomed to the White House and promised a trade deal.
37:06Meloni is the darling of the MAGA world and, you know, Trump has made it very clear that he thinks Meloni is a fantastic politician and a great friend.
37:17I think that what she likes to portray herself as somebody who is a mediator, somebody who could maybe, you know, given her, you know, friendly relation with the administration, be an advocate for compromise and for a no tariff arrangement.
37:36On the other hand, she knows that Italy has to play with the European partners, not only because legally the EU represents all member states in trade negotiations,
38:06but also because of the European countries, the European countries and the European countries and to the European countries.
38:11Alricchio is a renowned Italian cheesemaking company and the country's largest exporter.
38:18Local parmigiano makers like Stefano Casali, who we met earlier, sell their product to
38:24Alricchio, which then exported overseas.
38:28They also produce and sell their own cheeses, including Gorgonzola, Pecorino Romano and
38:34provolone.
38:35The company was founded in 1877 by Gennaro Alricchio and today it is owned and run by his great
38:43grandson Antonio and his brothers.
38:47500 years ago the provolone like this, like this, like this.
38:53How long do these guys need to learn this technique?
38:56Two years, three years, because it's very difficult.
39:04How many of these are made in a day?
39:06They depend, depend, um, maximum 20.
39:12Maximum 20 in a day?
39:13100 kilos.
39:14Yeah.
39:15You ready?
39:16You ready?
39:17Yes.
39:18One.
39:19Two.
39:20Two.
39:21Three.
39:22Go!
39:23That's so impressive.
39:27We have the 52, 53% of the market of provolone DOP in Italy.
39:40And then how much of it is sold inside Italy and how much outside?
39:44Both.
39:45Now it's 50% in Italy, 50% in all the parts of the world.
39:50So you store them, you keep them here for how long?
39:54One, one year or it's better two years.
39:57How much of your cheese is actually exported to the United States?
40:03We export about 25% of our production, but not only for the provolone, for parmigiano reggiano
40:12and pecorino romano.
40:14Parmigiano reggiano sells one million of wheels.
40:18The United States market is the first market in the world.
40:24So, the impact of tariff, what kind of impact is that going to have on your business?
40:30Alpha.
40:31We lose the alpha because it's impossible, too expensive.
40:36If the price goes up, in the United States many people produce, I don't know, parmesan,
40:43provolone, domestic provolone.
40:44Yes.
40:45But it's different.
40:46But if the price of Italian provolone, Italian parmigiano reggiano is too high, the people
40:51choose another quality.
40:53It makes running a business very, very difficult.
40:56We don't understand which is the real mentality of the Trump government.
41:05When you taste the Italian cheese like parmigiano, you taste the history, it's impossible to
41:10have the tax on, for the parmigiano and for the provolone and for the pecorino romano.
41:17Because it's too good cheese, it's very important.
41:20The people in all the parts of the world like the cheese, but all the people don't like the
41:29extra tax.
41:30Believe to me, it's fantastic cheese.
41:33Even with 15% now agreed between America and Europe, will these tariffs achieve Trump's
41:40goal of returning manufacturing to the US?
41:44You cannot just say in the morning everything is going to be made in America because they
41:49don't make stuff in America.
41:51And to make stuff, the manufacturing process is difficult, it's long, it's tedious, and it
41:57requires enormous capital.
41:59Now the thing is, the Americans don't have any of this.
42:03So when I look at the economics, I'm thinking, this makes no sense.
42:08Then is it a grievance?
42:10Mr. Trump is saying, if you want to do business with us, you do it playing by our rules.
42:17We don't care what those guys in Geneva or anywhere else are telling us.
42:21This trade protectionism and trade is going to be a proxy for much more conflict within
42:30the world.
42:31The grievance is that the nostalgia for America in the 1960s, which is a white America, which
42:38is a middle class America, that is over.
42:42The grievance is the sense that America is no longer the king of the castle.
42:48And that's what's driving it.
42:50In Mr. Trump's view, it's doing business, but business the way he thinks that it should
42:57go.
42:58You want to sell in the U.S., you manufacture in the U.S., you invest in the U.S., you
43:03hire U.S. people, et cetera, which we probably would agree on that it's totally unfeasible
43:10on a short time frame.
43:13I think we will see it in the next years that Trump will have done a lot of damage, you know,
43:20not only for the world, but also for his own economy.
43:33Damage or not, it has definitely created uncertainty.
43:39But after months of headlines, it looks as if President Trump is winning his tariff battles,
43:46forcing trading partners to negotiate on his terms and securing potentially huge investments
43:54into the American economy.
43:57He's managed to get the European Union to agree to a new 15% on most goods.
44:06The European Commission chief argues it's a big deal for everyone.
44:12Never say it's appeasement to avoid a full-blown trade war.
44:17One thing that seems certain under the Trump administration is that uncertainty will continue.
44:24One thing that seems to be possible is that these two parts of the Trump administration
44:39are, and that they do not have to become a big deal.
44:44But to make this country together, that they don't have to be protected and be protected.
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