Ontario’s ban on American booze will remain until U.S. President Donald Trump removes tariffs on Canadian goods or when the two countries strike a new free trade deal — which could be a long time, Premier Doug Ford warned on Wednesday.
Ford has taken a hard-line stance in Canada’s ongoing trade war with Trump. In March, the premier ordered the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to remove U.S. alcohol off its shelves and ban future sales as a direct response to Trump’s first set of tariffs on Canadian goods.
The booze ban will likely play a role in upcoming negotiations on a new North American free-trade deal, Ford hinted.
“If there’s a deal, another USMCA deal, which I don’t think is going to happen for the next few months — but you never know with President Trump, he could pull the carpet out from underneath us in a heartbeat like he has before — or they get rid of their tariffs and then we’ll bring the booze back into the LCBO, and if they don’t, then they aren’t getting any booze on our shelves,” Ford said.
Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced he would drop retaliatory tariffs on goods from the United States that are covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, a position at odds with Ford.
Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs on a long list of American goods in March, including oranges, alcohol, motorcycles and cosmetics. Carney said it was a different time in negotiations with the Americans and that a different tack was needed.
Counter-tariffs remain
Canada’s counter-tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles will remain. The tariffs on automobiles generally align with the United States but Canada’s counter-tariffs on steel and aluminum remain at 25 per cent, despite the U.S. raising its rate to 50 per cent in June.
Trump boosted tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent at the start of August, with the White House saying the flow of fentanyl across the border and retaliatory tariffs were behind the increase. Those duties are not applied to goods compliant under CUSMA.
It’s been five months since U.S. alcohol was taken off Ontario’s shelves. Now, with the final dregs of top-shelf bourbons going for premium prices in Toronto, bars are pitching local dupes.
Ford has long held firm on a dollar-for-dollar retaliation on Trump’s tariffs, but he downplayed any disagreement with Carney.
“I just believe when they’re tariffing us 50 per cent on our steel and the whole world’s using Canada as a dumping ground for steel, we have to make changes,” Ford said.
“We’re tariffing them 25 per cent, fair is fair. I’d tariff them 50 per cent on our aluminum, copper, forestry products and obviously steel. We have to protect our steelworkers here in Ontario. So we have to fight fire with fire, but we’ll see how the prime minister makes out.”
Canadian alcohol sales up
The ban on American alcohol has been a boon for Canadian booze.
Ford said Ontario wine sales are up 67 per cent. In the three months that followed the ban, Ontario and Canadian-made alcohol sales were up 19 per cent at the LCBO, figures provided by the Ontario finance minister show.
The liquor board in Quebec was contemplating dumping banned American booze that was expiring, but Finance Minister Eric Girard recently told the board to donate the alcohol to charity instead.
Ford said there are no plans yet in Ontario to destroy American booze.
“We still have a few months before anything expires and we’ll take it from there,” he said.
Ford’s office later said that less than one per cent of U.S. alcohol has expired and another one per cent will not expire for another decade.
Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser said the booze ban should be used by the federal government at the negotiation table, but Ford is not part of the negotiation team and his tough talk on Trump is all for appearances.
“It’s all show and no dough,” Fraser said.
