Trump’s tariffs forced a decline in U.S. liquor exports

Ajouté : 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Canada's trade war with the US is having a real impact on the alcohol industry south of the border. The Distilled Spirits Council says it saw a 63% drop in exports to Canada in 2025. It blames the bans on American liquor in most Canadian provinces. For more on this, let's bring in CTV's Judy Trin with the details on this. Judy, good to see you this morning. What more can you tell us about what we're hearing from the Distilled Spirits Council and the impact south of the border?

[00:00:29]Scott, this is coming from testimony of Chris Swonger. He is the president of the Distilled Spirits Council and he appeared before a congressional committee uh related to trade and tariffs. And what he said was that before the tariffs, before uh these tariffs that uh the US President Donald Trump levied uh the threat of a trade war, the distillery industry in the US was actually experiencing a renaissance.

[00:00:57]It was growing and it was experiencing rapid rise in sales of 25%. But in particular related to Canada, this has hurt the industry. Canada accounts Scott for about 20% of uh whiskey, rye, bourbon sales uh uh from the US. So this is interesting. So what we know is that these bans have hurt uh the industry in the US and it's actually impacted jobs.

[00:01:28]In his testimony, Chris Swonger said that about a thousand jobs were lost in the last year or a 3.5% decline in job numbers in the industry.

[00:01:39]So significant and that doesn't include uh the impact on farmers because if you are going to make bourbon and whiskey you are going to need barley and corn right so this impact uh is significant just in this sector and we haven't even calculated the impact on on on wine and beer yet Scott >> of course all this is happening as the uh review of Koozma is getting underway later this summer this is all having just one impact on one industry. But this of course is all tied up in the the whole discussion around trade.

[00:02:16]>> You know, it's interesting. Uh last month uh the prime minister was asked because I I should point out to our viewers that when it comes to this booze ban in uh provinces other than uh Alberta and Saskatchewan, it has really gotten under the skin of the US administration. Trump has called Canada mean and nasty, specifically related to the booze ban. Uh the prime minister was asked uh specifically whether or not he would consider removing uh this trade irritant uh in order to get talks on Kousma uh going because we know that there has there seems to be a stalling of progress and we and in regards to that renegotiation that deadline is July 1st. So why uh would Canada would Canada consider removing this booze ban in order to give a boost to uh trade talks in which the prime minister in a very fiery exchange said do you know what's a trade irritant uh 25% tariffs on steel aluminum and our section 3232 tariffs.

[00:03:25]So the prime minister uh is not going to encourage uh lifting of Canada's boozan and we know that Ontario's premier uh Rob uh Doug Ford is completely against it and he was the one leading the charge in the beginning. Scott, >> CTV's Judy Trin reporting from our nation's capital. Judy, thanks so much for this.

[00:03:47]You're welcome.