Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he won’t drop an LCBO ban on American alcohol after United States President Donald Trump cited it as one of his issues with Canada in a lengthy social media post.
The ban was introduced last year after U.S. tariffs were first imposed on Canadian imports, leading Ford to tell the Crown corporation to remove all American products from the shelves of provincial liquor stores.
The ban was referenced by Trump in a Monday night complaint about a new bridge planned between Ontario and Michigan, but Ford said he had no intention of changing course.
“It’s obviously working, it’s an irritant,” the premier told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s one thing President Trump can do, get rid of Canadian tariffs…. Get rid of it and we’re good to go.”
Ford said he thinks Ontario should “double down if we have to” on the alcohol ban — although it’s not clear how the ban could be increased.
“This is not the time to roll over and let President Trump take advantage of us,” Ford said. “We want a strong relationship with our closest friend, and we’re going to continue moving forward.”
Ford said Prime Minister Mark Carney had not mentioned the ban on American alcohol at the LCBO.
In a lengthy post on his Truth Social website, Trump called for immediate negotiations over the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit that he said would seek U.S. ownership of “at least one half of this asset.”
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He cited Ottawa’s recent trade agreement with China, Canadian tariff quotas for American dairy products, and Ontario’s ban on U.S. alcohol among his irritants with Canada, and said the bridge is the latest example of Canada treating the U.S. “very unfairly for decades.”
The bridge will serve as a new crossing within the busy Ontario-Michigan trade corridor and aims to ease traffic on the nearby Ambassador Bridge.
As part of the broader complaint about U.S.-Canada relations and the Gordie Howe International Bridge threat, Trump complained about Ontario’s booze ban.
“What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING!” the president wrote on Monday night. “Ontario won’t even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now.”
Carney said he “explained” to Trump that while Canada paid for the bridge that Trump is threatening to bar from opening, its ownership is shared and construction involved U.S. steel and workers.
“We discussed the bridge. I explained that Canada paid for the construction of the bridge — $4 billion — that the ownership is shared between the state of Michigan and the Government of Canada,” Carney told reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting Tuesday.
Carney said he had a “positive conversation” with Trump. Meanwhile, Ford said he was “very confident” the bridge would open.
Trump’s Truth Social post is the first major test of Ford’s resolve to keep the ban — which has not yet faced the White House’s ire — in place.
It was first suggested during last winter’s snap election and introduced in response to tariffs imposed by Trump in March 2025.
The morning after tariffs came into effect, the Ford government unveiled a ban on selling American alcohol at the LCBO, cancelled a contract for Elon Musk’s Starlink internet and moved to make it harder for U.S. companies to bid on government contracts.
At the time, the government said Ontario imports $965 million worth of booze annually and had 3,600 American products from 36 states on its shelves.
Because the LCBO is also the only place bars or restaurants can buy their stock, the ban effectively removed American alcohol from those locations as well.
The move, however, did not yield an immediate response from the United States.
A brief surcharge on Ontario electricity exported to New York, Michigan and Minnesota angered Trump and was promptly walked back. Meanwhile, the Starlink deal was cancelled — but with a penalty paid to Musk’s company.
The ban on American booze remained in place for the rest of 2025 and into the new year. It is credited by the LCBO for a boost in Ontario wine sales and is a move Ford has said he won’t stand down until tariffs are removed.
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