This year marks the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Italy, ties reaffirmed when Italy became a republic in 1946. Since then, our two nations have forged remarkable economic and cultural partnerships with deep connections on both sides of the Atlantic.
This historic anniversary marks the bond between the United States and Italy and is uniquely personally as well.
My grandparents immigrated to the United States from Calabria and Naples, Italy in the early 1900’s and I grew up surrounded by a large family with strong Italian roots in Staten Island, New York. Our heritage as an Italian American family shaped my future and who I became.
From an early age, I was involved in politics and grew up working on my father’s political campaigns, many of which represented Staten Island, New York – a predominately Italian community. In 1985, at the age of 27, I won my first campaign and was elected to the New York City Council and later was elected to Congress alongside other prominent Italian Americans like Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and many others.
In fact, today, there are more than 17 million Americans of Italian origin, the fourth largest ethnic group of European origin. American culture is imbued with the contributions of Italian Americans like the first Italian American First Lady Jill Biden, world-famous singer and entertainer Frank Sinatra and screenwriter and director Sofia Coppola, while Italian American scientists like Enrico Fermi, who created the world’s first nuclear reactor, helped to drive American research efforts in the 20th century.
While they are all uniquely our own, there are countless Italian American family stories like this, and these connections ultimately are further bolstered by the common economic and national security goals shared by the United States and Italy. While the heritage between Italy and America runs deep, it isn’t just about our shared past, but our shared future that binds us together as well.
President Biden came into office promising to reset relations with our European allies, and he is off to an impressive start. He has had productive discussions with the European Union (EU) and his Administration’s recent decision to put a four-month pause on tariffs imposed on many popular European Union products provides an important opportunity to reset and renew our nation’s relationship with one of our most important allies, Italy.
As the first and eighth largest economies in the world respectively, the United States and Italy are equal opportunity investors in one another. The United States has nearly $35 billion in direct investments in Italy, while Italy’s investments in the U.S. total nearly $33 billion and growing.
The two nations are also partners in trade. Nearly ten percent of all Italian exports come to the United States, representing many of America’s favorite culinary products such as pasta, olive oil, sweets, and coffee.
This year, Italy is serving as president of the Group of 20, a group uniting the world’s largest economies to address shared concerns such as climate change and assisting developing nations. The United States and Italy also serve together on international organizations such as NATO, collaborating on issues like cyber-security and human rights; and the OECD, where the countries are charting a global path forward for the digital economy.
The many beneficial connections between the U.S. and Italy underscore the importance of this relationship. So, it has been unfortunate that for the past several years Italy has been caught in the middle of a trade battle between the United States and four other members of the European Union.
This dispute, playing out at the World Trade Organization, has centered on the issue of illegal subsidies to Airbus, an aircraft manufacturer owned by four European countries – none of which is Italy. In the ensuing quarrel, both the United States and EU have raised tariffs on each other’s products including Italian products headed to the U.S.
Fortunately, the Biden Administration made the right decision to put a temporary pause in these tariffs to find a final resolution to a feud that has been damaging for too long. But I don’t view this as an isolated moment or merely a decision on tariffs – but as the beginning of a full reset of the Transatlantic Partnership with Italy playing a key role. I am hopeful that the Italian American alliance, both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, can help resolve many of these thorny global challenges and launch a new era of cooperation and security.
As the United States and Italy celebrate 160 years of connections, it is important to recognize the value each nation has to one another, settle lingering economic disputes, and work together on our shared goals of peace and prosperity for the next 160 years.
