The Newfoundland and Labrador government is once again pulling U.S. alcohol from NLC shelves, as governments across Canada react to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods crossing the southern border.
In a press release Tuesday morning, Premier Andrew Furey said the NLC will strip its shelves of American-made products immediately, and government will also be “reviewing and stopping immediately, where possible, procurement from the U.S.”
“Now, more than ever, we should be supporting local and Canadian-made products where possible,” Furey said in the release.
The province first pulled U.S. liquor from shelves in early February, when Trump had first threatened to impose tariffs.
But those bottles went back up for sale after the president announced a month-long tariff delay.
The looming threat prompted the province to launch a “buy local” campaign.
Furey also said he is looking to diversify the local economy.
“We will identify new export markets for Newfoundland and Labrador products with a series of market development and expansion initiatives, deepening our connections with Europe and beyond to grow our trading opportunities,” said Furey in the release. “And we will continue robust collaboration with industry, community, and labour organizations through our roundtable on Canada-U.S. trade relations.”
Move will damage U.S. economy: Furey
On Monday, Trump announced his long-promised tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods were imminent, and that there was nothing the two countries could do to further delay the move.
Furey says Trump either doesn’t understand or realize how integrated the Canada and U.S. economies are.
“It is not as simple as placing a tariff on anything — any goods or service — across the border and not having an impact on his own economy. This is going to be detrimental to the people of the United States,” Furey told BBC News on Monday.
Newfoundland and Labrador exports energy, lumber and seafood and more to the United States. Furey says those products will become more expensive for U.S. consumers.
“That’s going to cause pain on both sides of the border,” said Furey.
Mixed motives
Trump has reiterated his motive behind the tariffs is a concern about fentanyl entering the U.S. from its neighbouring countries. In response, Canada appointed a fentanyl czar and introduced a $1.3 billion border security plan.
Furey said cutting down on fentanyl circulation is a good move but there is a false narrative that Canada is supplying excess amounts of the illegal and deadly drug to the U.S.
“The truth is that more fentanyl is coming from the United States into Canada. There’s more illegal arms and more illegal immigrants coming from the United States into Canada than the other way around. The president knows that,” said Furey.
He said the issue of illegal drugs and tariffs were purposefully conflated in order to cause confusion and believes that’s being implemented to bring in additional revenue to the U.S. through high tariffs — something he doesn’t think is going to work, pointing to a similar move in the 1930s.
“Unfortunately we’re going to see a real life experiment of something we already have proof from a previous real life experiment in the 1930s.”
A strong response
In response to Trump’s tariffs, Canada has promised $155 billion in counter-tariffs on U.S. goods.
Furey said the Canadian government’s response to the tariffs has to be strong and that Canadians also have to be resolved.
“You can’t forget he’s also attacked our sovereignty. He’s also started by joking about the 51st state, which from day one I never took as a joke — I took as an insult and an onslaught to the Canadian people,” he said.
Furey added that the trading relationship between the two countries is longstanding and it has survived tensions before and that it also needs to survive this period as well.
Despite the current tensions, Furey said he still considers the U.S. an ally, adding he has close personal ties through the U.S. through his surgical training, being married to an American and even started his family while living in Baltimore, Maryland.
“The strength of the relationship is beyond one president, beyond one prime minister,” said Furey.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
