When U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new 50 per cent tariff on most Canadian goods, one of the issues he cited as a “retaliatory and discriminatory” measure was the prohibition on the sale of American-made alcohol in many provinces.
But how did booze become a battleground in the bigger trade war launched by the U.S. against Canada?
On Monday, Trump signed three executive orders, each one using a different justification for the new tariff: the provincial and territorial boycotts on American alcohol products, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles and auto parts, and quotas on American dairy imports under Canada’s supply management system.
When the Trump administration hit vast sections of the Canadian economy with tariffs in 2025 amid threats of annexation to make Canada the “51st state,” American booze became “low-hanging fruit” that the provinces could hit back against, said Concordia University economist Moshe Lander.
Most Canadian provinces, except Alberta and Saskatchewan, now have no U.S. alcohol on their shelves.
“As part of the Elbows Up campaign, Canadians quickly looked for something that they could substitute away from the U.S.,” he said.
It was easier to find Canadian alternatives for American alcohol than other products, he said.
“We have a huge number of wine-growing regions (in Canada), we’re known for our beer, we have craft breweries, so it’s something that was very easily substitutable and would make an impact,” Lander said.
“Who will forget Doug Ford pouring a bottle of Crown Royal onto the ground at the thought of moving facilities into the U.S.?” he added.
Alcohol became a symbol of Canadian resistance to American tariffs when, in September 2025, Ontario Premier Doug Ford dumped out an entire bottle of Crown Royal in protest of the whisky maker’s decision to shutter its bottling facility in the province.
“So, you know something? A message to the CEO in France: You hurt my people. I’m going to hurt you,” Ford said at the time.
Ford then proceeded to grab a bottle of Crown Royal, which he said he found at home, opened it and poured the whisky out onto the ground, leaning over the podium he was speaking at.
Pulling a product off the shelves also sends a strong message of retaliation, said Preetika Joshi, assistant professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
“When you refuse to carry something, it’s much stronger than a tariff because a tariff, you’re saying you can sell it but we’re going to impose a tariff so the price goes up. But when you refuse to sell it, there is no sale so that’s a bigger hit,” she said.
Canada’s premiers were looking to bring media attention to the trade war, said John Boscariol, partner and international trade lawyer at the law firm McCarthy Tétrault.
“The provincial governments here made a very big show of removing those products from Canadian shelves. And that’s what the media focused on. I think that was probably the intent of the provincial governments to focus media on that,” Boscariol said.
In the days following Trump’s initial announcement of a tariff on Canada in 2025, there was a growing push to “buy Canadian” to support local businesses.
While it would have been confusing for many to tell the difference between “Made in Canada” or “Product of Canada” labels, it was quite easy for many to identify country of origin at their local liquor store, Lander said.
“How are the liquor stores arranged? First, it’s by spirits, and then it’s by region. When you can see that the U.S. shelf is empty, it really resonates with people,” he added.
Targeting U.S. liquor in a trade war is not new for Canada. In 2018, during a similar trade dispute, Canada hit back at products coming from Republican-leaning and swing states, such as Kentucky bourbon, Wisconsin cheese and Florida orange juice.
“If you go after some of those swing states and say, ‘we’re coming right after you,’ then maybe somebody can grab Trump’s leash and say, ‘What are you doing? This is now no longer just affecting Canada. It’s affecting the people that are supporting you and your agenda. Maybe you want to rein this in,’” Lander said.
The U.S. alcohol industry has been feeling the pain from provincial booze bans.
From 2024 to 2026, there has been a 78 per cent drop in U.S. wine exports to Canada, marking a loss of US$357 million for the American wine industry, according to the Wine Institute, an American advocacy group for the wine industry.
Within a month of Canadian provinces announcing a ban on U.S. booze in 2025, sales of U.S. spirits in Canada fell by more than 66 per cent, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
“Alcoholic beverage consumption is actually going down in the U.S, wine in particular is not doing well. In a hard time, the Canadian markets bailed them out,” said Gary Hufbauer, non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The loss of the Canadian market is hurting the alcohol industry in the U.S., Hufbauer said.
The U.S. booze industry group said they “appreciate” the Trump administration’s recognition of the “significant damage” Canadian restrictions had caused to U.S. distillers.
“We had hoped, however, that this issue could be resolved without further escalation,” said Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
Canada’s premiers gathered in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, with many clearly stating that the bans are here to stay.
B.C. Premier David Eby said “the idea of the president that he can bully us into whatever he wishes is incorrect.”
“There is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on the shelf in British Columbia,” Eby said on Tuesday.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canada needs to be united.
“We can’t roll over and we won’t back down,” he said.