Greek feta producers are bracing for a major blow after former U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on imports, threatening to derail expansion plans for Greece’s most iconic cheese in the United States.
Feta, a protected EU trademark since 2022, has been made in Greece for more than 6,000 years and is deeply woven into the country’s agricultural and culinary heritage. A small dairy cooperative in the mountainous town of Kalavrita, made up of 1,200 local stock breeders, alone produces 5,000 tonnes of feta annually, supplying both the domestic market and overseas buyers.
Trump’s decision on Wednesday to impose a 10% minimum tariff on most imported goods, with European Union exports facing even higher 20% rates, has cast a shadow over the cooperative’s plans and the broader Greek dairy industry’s efforts to grow in one of the world’s most promising markets.
“What share of that (duties) will go to the final consumer… where the roulette ball will land, remains to be seen,” said Konstantinos Latsis, the cooperative’s general manager, told Reuters from inside the dairy’s cold room, where over 6,000 beech barrels of feta ripen in brine.
A Tradition Under Threat
In 2019, Greek feta narrowly avoided inclusion in a previous round of U.S. tariffs, but the new measures appear far less forgiving.
Greece exported around 8% of its 140,000-tonne feta output to the U.S. last year, a volume that had doubled over four years as American consumers embraced the tangy, salty cheese. The exports were worth a significant share of the industry’s total €800 million output.
But, according to Reuters, industry leaders now fear those numbers could drop by half or more, with the tariffs raising prices for U.S. consumers and forcing Greek producers to seek new markets.
Despite the setbacks, the Kalavrita cooperative remains hopeful. Latsis believes that the U.S. market is too big to ignore, even if progress slows under the weight of new duties.
“We are optimistic that, no matter what — because this is a very big market — we will be able to slowly enter it,” he told Reuters.
Still, the looming tariffs add a layer of uncertainty for a product that is not only an economic engine for rural Greek communities but also a point of national pride. With the European Union promising retaliatory measures and trade tensions flaring, feta has become an unlikely symbol of the collateral damage in a broader geopolitical clash.
For now, the 6,000 barrels of cheese resting in the cool cellars of Kalavrita may have to wait a little longer before finding their way onto American dinner tables.
