MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Despite a year marked by new trade tensions and increased duties, the volume of trade between Italy and the United States continued to grow, in the wake of +7.2% recorded by Italian exports in the USA in 2025, as well as Italian direct investments in the USA. It is precisely in this phase of greater complexity that it takes shape a proposal to strengthen the tools available to enterprises on the two sides of the Atlantic: to start a path of integration between American Chamber of Commerce in Italy and Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC) of New York, until the possible creation of a true Transatlantic Chamber.
According to a note, the two main indications emerged today in Milan from “Navigating U.S.-Italy Commercial Policies”, the meeting promoted by AmCham Italy and Italy-America Chamber of Commerce within the Joint Trade & Tariffs Committee and hosted at Deloitte in via Santa Sofia.
Institutions, enterprises and experts have been confronted with the impact of the new tariff framework, the strategies for adapting companies and the prospects of the economic corridor between Italy and the United States. The data discussed during the morning is less linear than the one suggested by the growth of tariff barriers alone.
Business criticalities have increased costs, uncertainty and planning needs, but have not so far interrupted the positive dynamics of bilateral economic relations.
“The relationship between Italy and the USA has never been so profitable and vital, despite turbulence and tariffs. The future, judging by the data, appears growing up until today. The American market continues to buy more and more Italian goods: it is a phenomenon that we see both on the export front and on that of investments”, said Simone Crolla, CEO of AmCham Italy.
Hence the proposal to strengthen collaboration between the two chamber organizations. The hypothesis, still to be formalized and submitted to the respective boards and presidencies, arises from the experience gained by AmCham Italy in Italy and the IACC in the United States and from the aim of avoiding overlaps, integrating skills and offering to enterprises and exporters more coordinated services.
“An important message is that duties and tariffs are not synonymous: in the face of an abstractly very high tariff, the duty actually paid by the importer can be lower due to adaptation strategies. We talk about customs planning, instruments that allow to contain the tariff impact. In this context, the support of skills specialized in trade policy and supply chain optimization becomes strategic. The decisions taken at this stage will determine the competitiveness of many companies over the years to come,” said Pier Paolo Ghetti, Global Trade Advisory National Leader of Deloitte.
The ability to adapt the enterprises, which emerged from the analyses presented during the meeting, does not eliminate the unknown on the medium term.
The undersecretary with delegation to the international and European relations of the Lombardy Region, Raffaele Cattaneo, invites you to look at the real data, to what happens to the enterprises and our relations: “The Lombardy has a special relationship with the United States, which goes beyond duties and individual administrations: it is a historical link, confirmed also by numbers. With 8.68% of regional exports in 2025, the United States is the first extra-market EU of Lombardy and the third absolute. But to enter this market or consolidate its presence, we need relationships, credibility and knowledge of the right interlocutors,” he said.
“This is where institutions can make a difference: by accompanying companies through institutional relations and economic diplomacy and facilitating access to interlocutors and opportunities that they would strive to achieve. Lombardy Region has long been working in this direction, along with the stakeholders of the Lombardy System, in particular to the associations of category and universities, who participate in our missions. This is an example of the institutional mission of last April in New York, to which will follow, in mid-October, a new journey in the United States, with stages in Washington and Florida and meetings at the highest institutional levels. In Washington we will also participate in the Gala of NIAF, which this year chose Lombardy as a region of honor,” he continued.
Moderated by Daniele Lepido, Senior Reporter of Bloomberg, the works, introduced by a video message of the Viceminister of Enterprises and Made in Italy Valentino Valentini, have seen the interventions of Simone Crolla; Federico Tozzi, Executive Director of Italy-America Chamber of Commerce; Pier Paolo Ghetti; Caroline Chung, Principal Commercial Officer of the U.S. Consulate General – Milan; by Raffaele Cattaneo and Stefano Pelagallo, Head of Value Creation by CDP Venture Capital. The meeting was held with the support of Deloitte, FedEx Express Italy, Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP (GDLSK), Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase Bank and KPMG Business Services. A clear message emerges from the day: the new tariff scenario makes the transatlantic trade more complex, but has not stopped its growth. For enterprises and institutions the challenge is to transform this complexity into an ability to adapt, while at the same time strengthening the links between the two markets.
– American Chamber of Commerce press office in Italy –
(ITALPRESS).
