Trump just banned Canadian booze

Trump just banned Canadian booze

Bottles of Canadian-made Crown Royal whisky at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario Queen’s Quay store in Toronto on March 4, 2025.
Bottles of Canadian-made Crown Royal whisky at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario Queen’s Quay store in Toronto on March 4, 2025. Christopher Katsarov Luna/Bloomberg/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s ban on Canadian booze kicked in on Tuesday, an unprecedented move that underscores the breakdown in one of the closest trading relationships in the world.

The ban, which impacts $800 million worth of Canadian alcoholic beverages the US imported last year, marks the latest salvo in a tit-for-tat trading war that already includes sky-high tariffs and a ban on US booze in Ontario and other Canadian provinces.

However, experts say most American shoppers are unlikely to immediately notice the ban, in part because of workarounds, exemptions and the fact that distributors have had time to stock up on imported Canadian alcohol before the ban took effect.

At the same time, with the quickly evolving trade picture with Canada, anything can change on a moment’s notice. Hours before the ban took effect, Trump said he is confident the US will come out ahead, and expects Canada to come to the US with a deal soon.

“They want to have a deal with us, they call us all the time. The problem is that they’ve treated the United States very unfairly,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

“Over the next three or four weeks, they’re going to come to us and they’re going to say, ‘We’re going to get rid of all the tariffs,’” Trump said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has not said anything to that effect, however.

The fine print
Whisky and liqueurs, two of Canada’s top alcoholic beverage exports to the US, are exempt from the ban when sold in containers larger than four liters. In those cases, they also won’t face any tariffs.