A sign placed in front of the American whiskey section at a Vancouver liquor store after American made products were removed from shelves, in February, 2025.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Call it voting with your liver. In the same way that you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink, putting U.S. alcohol back on Canadian shelves can’t make locals partake.
Over the last year and a half, many Canadians have been boycotting American travel and retail products. They may soon have another strong tool for expressing their displeasure with President Donald Trump.
A ban on U.S. booze – early in 2025, most provinces took American wine, beer and spirits off the shelf in response to Mr. Trump’s threats and tariffs – proved incredibly galling to the United States. It cost their alcohol producers hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales. It was regularly raised by U.S. officials and politicians as a trade irritant.
This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney signalled that it was time to make peace, asking premiers to restock U.S. alcohol. Their reaction so far has been muted. And even though his request might be a pragmatic trade-off in important talks, Canadian drinkers are under no obligation to play along. Elbows up, not bottoms up.
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No doubt some Canadians are salivating to once again sip Kentucky bourbon and sniff the bouquet of an Oregon pinot noir. But U.S. alcohol producers should not be too optimistic about the prospect of regaining their former market-share.
A recent survey by Pollara Strategic Insights found that 56 per cent of Canadians who formerly bought U.S. alcohol would boycott it if it returned, and another 19 per cent would cut back. Only 16 per cent would revert to their old buying habits. The remainder were unsure.
Certainly, U.S. producers have not helped their cause by supporting Mr. Trump’s threat last month to put a 50-per-cent tariff on a long list of Canadian goods. Cheering the economic kneecapping of a country you wish to regain as customers is never a good business strategy.
As well, Canadian liquor retailers have filled the shelves emptied of U.S. products with beverages from other countries – particularly from domestic producers, whose sales have surged – and those manufacturers will fight to retain that space. At the same time, many Canadians have found replacements for their previous drinks of choice. As marketers know, it’s hard to break a habit once established.
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But the biggest reason U.S. alcohol may be hard to swallow is that, while a new trade deal between Canada and the United States might represent a new normal, it does not mean a return to normal.
Canada is still facing punishing trade levies on key sectors. Mr. Trump’s latest tariff threats have been put on hold, but existing ones still bite. They have undermined the country’s economy and eliminated Canadian jobs. Real people are being hurt.
And Mr. Trump remains the erratic president he always was. Any deal negotiated this week will last as long as he feels it should. The review of the North American free-trade deal will bring new curveballs. And there is no reason to believe the President will not start musing again about annexing Canada, a topic he re-floated as recently as June.
Much of the Canadian anger in response to this situation has been met with bemusement or confusion from Americans. Prominent Fox News host Jesse Watters riffed that he found it “personally offensive” that Canada didn’t want to be taken over by the United States, saying that any country should consider it an honour. And the abrasive U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, professes not to understand why residents of his host country are so upset.
U.S. alcohol could be coming back to Canadian shelves. Tell us if you will be buying or boycotting
For Canadians, the situation is straightforward. A recent Nanos poll found that 81 per cent had a negative view of the relationship with the U.S. The feeling appears to run deep.
Even a figure as lauded as Wayne Gretzky found out the hard way, publicly vilified for spending time with Mr. Trump and his statue in Edmonton smeared with feces. A popular graffito across Canada is a crossed-out U.S. flag with the slogan “there is no enemy like a friend betrayed.”
In this climate, for Canadians who welcome a trade deal but still have concerns about where they stand vis-à-vis the United States, there is a simple way of showing it. There will be nothing to stop them purchasing U.S. alcohol – nothing but the side-eye of fellow shoppers – but no one can make them buy it either.
For U.S. alcohol producers, Mr. Trump’s actions are likely to cause a long and painful hangover.