All American liquor will be removed from LCBO shelves starting Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the day after the U.S. levied punishing tariffs on Canadian products.
“As part of Ontario’s response strategy to the imposed U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, the government of Ontario has directed (the) LCBO to indefinitely stop all sales of U.S. alcohol products in our stores and online and to stop wholesale sales of U.S. products to restaurants, bars, grocery and other retailers no later than February 4, 2025,” a spokesperson from the Liquor Control Board of ONtario (LCBO) confirmed to CTV News.
The Crown agency said it sells up to $965 million worth of American alcohol annually, with more than 3,600 U.S. products available.
“Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, sprits and seltzers. Not anymore,” Ford said in an early morning post on X.
It said more information will be made available to their customers and suppliers.
Every year, LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers. Not anymore.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 2, 2025
Starting Tuesday, we’re removing American products from LCBO shelves. As the only wholesaler of alcohol in the province, LCBO will also remove American products from its…
The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association (ORHMA) expressed its full support in the complete removal of U.S. liquor given “this current climate.”
“There are plenty (of) alternative products including our own Ontario wines and spirits. We need to stay united,” Tony Elenis said in a statement to CTV News Toronto.
On the campaign trail on Sunday morning, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie says she supports this move, but questions where the rest of Ford’s plan is to hit the U.S. back, accusing him of putting his focus on his snap election campaign while “in the middle of a crisis.”
British Columbia and Nova Scotia also moved to pull American liquor from its provincially-owned stores. Additionally, B.C. Premier David Eby specifically directed BC Liquor stores to “immediately stop buying American liquor from red states.”
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the move a “step in the right direction.”
“Across the board, we need to stand united with every province and the federal government,” she said in a statement.
“We also need to implement a Buy Ontario procurement strategy and stock our shelves with locally made products. Ontario has world class wine, beer and spirits produced right here, so let’s use this as an opportunity to boost our local industry.”
Chris Swonger, the president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, called the retaliatory measures “extremely disappointing and counterproductive,” urging the two North American countries to reach an agreement.
“Some spirits are recognized as ‘distinctive products’ by the U.S. and Canada, and can only be made in their designated countries such as Bourbon and Tennessee Whiskey in the U.S., and Canadian Whiskey in Canada,” Swonger told CTV News Toronto in a statement. “As a result, the production of these products cannot simply be moved to another country or region.”
The Ontario Craft Brewers Association (OCBA), meanwhile, is lending its support to the province as it moves to remove and delist U.S. alcohol brands from LCBO store shelves.
“American tariffs will hurt Ontario craft breweries, driving up costs on key inputs like the aluminium we use in our beer cans,” the organization’s president Scott Simmons said in a statement.
He said two things must be done to help Ontario’s small businesses “weather the headwinds of this trade war.”
“First, the LCBO must seize this opportunity to truly support local. We call on the government and LCBO to ensure all American-owned brands are removed from store shelves and replaced with real locally-made beer, made in breweries owned by Canadians,” Simmins said.
“The positive impact of this move would be massive - it would help Ontario craft brewers withstand the coming tariffs, create more good jobs in our communities, and put more money back into the local economy at this critical time.”
Secondly, Simmons said the provincial government must fast track tax reforms for the craft beer sector.
“As Ontario looks to support home-grown sectors and industries, it is critical that it move to immediately lower Ontario’s marginal tax rate in line with Alberta, to help ensure craft breweries are in a position to compete, grow, and thrive now and into the future,” he said.
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed across-the-board tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. The commander-in-chief’s reasoning to enact this new tax, as explained in a post on TruthSocial, comes as a result of the “major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens, including fentanyl.”
Less than one per cent of fentanyl and illegal crossings into the U.S. come from Canada, however, the federal government has started lobbying efforts with D.C. officials about their $1.3-billion border security enhancements.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the White House’s move to enforce 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports, and 10 per cent on Canadian energy—including oil, natural gas and electricity—has “split us apart instead of bringing us together.”
In response, Canada is putting its foot down and matching Trump’s tariffs, laying down 25 per cent tariffs in return on $155 billion in U.S. imports, including alcohol and fruit. Trudeau revealed at a press conference on Saturday night that he and Trump have not yet spoken about the trade war.
“If President Trump wants to usher in a new golden age for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada, not to punish us,” Trudeau said.
On Saturday, Ford called the new import tariffs “unjustified, unfair and frankly, illegal.”
“This is going to hurt Americans. It’s going to hurt Canadians. We’re going to see inflation happening down in the U.S. and Canada, and it’s unjustified,” he said in an interview with CNN.
“It’s unfortunate. We don’t want to do it. We’d rather have a strong trading partner with the U.S., build an Am-Can fortress. We want to ship down more products, more critical minerals, more oil. That’s what we want to do.”
The premier, who’s also running as PC leader in the middle of a provincial election campaign, has previously threatened to cut the power the province currently supplies for three U.S. states—Michigan, New York and Wisconsin—as a retaliatory measure to these tariffs.
According to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, $3.6 billion in goods and services cross between Canada and the U.S. on a daily basis, paving a $1.3 trillion annual trading relationship employing millions of workers on both sides of the border.
With files from CTV News’s National Correspondent Rachel Aiello
