American alcohol could be back on Canadian shelves if a trade deal with the United States is reached, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Canadians will be rushing to buy it.
Provincial boycotts of American alcohol have been a major trade irritant for U.S. President Donald Trump, who pointed to what he called “discriminatory” measures when he announced fresh tariffs on Canada last month, which were delayed until Saturday while both sides work on a trade deal.
Several premiers, including Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston, have said that Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked provinces to restock American alcohol on their shelves as Canada finalizes that new trade deal, which could see Canada avoid these tariffs.
When the Trump administration hit vast sections of the Canadian economy with tariffs in 2025 amid threats of annexation to make Canada the “51st state,” several Canadian provinces removed U.S. alcohol from their shelves.
Most Canadian provinces, except Alberta and Saskatchewan, now have no U.S. alcohol on their shelves.
Carney’s request to put it back on does not guarantee that Canadians will jump for U.S. liquor the moment it is back on the shelves, Houston said on Wednesday evening.
“Whether Nova Scotians or Canadians will actually buy it when it gets back on, that’s a whole other discussion,” he said.
The data points to Canadians souring on U.S. booze altogether.
Nearly seven in 10 (69 per cent) of Canadians in British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and the four Atlantic provinces said their provincial governments should keep the restrictions on American alcohol in place, new survey data released by Abacus Data revealed earlier this month.
Only 19 per cent want American products returned to store shelves, while 11 per cent are unsure, the survey of 1,363 adults added.
Canadian attitudes towards U.S. alcohol are tied to the Trump administration, retail analyst Bruce Winder said.
Even in the two provinces that still have U.S. alcohol on their shelves, sales have been slowing, Winder said.
“It really depends on what kind of deal the government secures with the administration,” he said.
“If they perceive the deal to be not as great, they might continue to just not buy U.S. alcohol from the shelves.”
The 18 months without U.S. booze on the shelves have given Canadians a chance to discover Canadian alcohol, said Dan Paszkowski, president and CEO of Wine Growers Canada.
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“We recognize that U.S. wines would come back at some point in time, but we hope that the Buy Canadian mentality will continue and the growth will continue,” Paszkowski said.
“We don’t want to lose what we’ve gained. Our target is to have a 50 per cent market share. We only have 30 per cent right now.”
An early uptick in U.S. alcohol sales will be crucial in determining whether provinces will continue to order more spirits, wine and beer from down south, Winder said.
“Some provinces have the alcohol already here in storage,” he said.
“In order for the provinces to order more alcohol, more supply of alcohol, they need to sell what they have now. It starts with the consumer. If the consumer doesn’t buy the alcohol, then there won’t be new orders for U.S. suppliers.”
The provincial boycotts have caused significant economic pain for the U.S. alcohol industry.
From 2024 to 2026, there has been a 78 per cent drop in U.S. wine exports to Canada, marking a loss of US$357 million for the American wine industry, according to the Wine Institute, an American advocacy group for the wine industry.
Within a month of Canadian provinces announcing a ban on U.S. booze in 2025, sales of U.S. spirits in Canada fell by more than 66 per cent, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.
What do premiers say?
While British Columbia Premier David Eby called for a “Team Canada” approach on Wednesday, he did not address the issue of bringing alcohol back on the shelves.
Alcohol became a symbol of Canadian resistance to American tariffs when, in April 2025, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced it would stop buying American alcohol, citing the U.S. tariffs put in place after Trump came into office earlier that year.
Those tariffs spurred a massive Buy Canadian movement and in September 2025, Ontario Premier Doug Ford dumped out an entire bottle of Crown Royal in protest of the whisky maker’s decision to shutter its bottling facility in the province.
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Ford had not publicly reacted to news of the tentative trade deal or Carney’s request for a rollback of the boycott as of Thursday afternoon.
Houston said Nova Scotia was “working through that process” but did not confirm when that would be.
Quebec Premier Christine Frechette says those negotiations are “far from over.”
“It is Quebec, and Quebec alone, that will decide” whether U.S. booze gets back on the shelves in the province, Frechette said.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he was not announcing a return of U.S. alcohol to Manitoba’s shelves on Thursday.
“The prime minister very clearly asked us to put the booze back. He very clearly wants this. He’s like, you know, just blame me, put this on me,” he said in a radio interview with 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.
680 CJOB is owned by Corus Entertainment, which is the parent company of Global News.
“We reserve the right to take it back off again, because we know that this guy is very erratic, the American president. And he may go back on his word, as he’s done countless times,” he added.
“No CUSMA, no booze-ma,” Kinew said, referring to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement.
Will you keep up a boycott of American alcohol even if it returns to shelves near you? Are you a Canadian business vowing not to restock it even if you’re able to? Let us know using the contact form below and we may be in touch for future articles.
What would happen if Canada put 100% tariffs on US Liquor ?
Alberta and Saskatchewan need to grow some balls and get US alcohol off the shelves.
Yes if the price is right.
ya i guess if it is 2-3 times more expensive than yank piss, all the traitors who buy it need to write their MP and see about getting their welfare checks upped so they can stay in a stupid stupor
When all this started, U.S producers said it wasn’t a bid deal. That Canada was only 5% of their export market share. What’s changed? While I live in a province that never really had a ban, I only drink products brewed in Alberta.
I didn’t stop buying it.
People on here need to get a life
never will i buy yankee booze
Who cares. Its a choice for the consumer.
Of course the greasy head Wab wouldn’t buy it. He prefers the toilet brew, or moonshine. And since when his, or Eby’s opinions actually matter?
Oh, and have you noticed that those commenters calling you a traitor are hiding themselves under Anonymous. Cowardly keyboard warriors still living in their momma’s basement.
Elbozos will boycott it but smart shoppers will buy. I’m a non drinker so it doesn’t matter to me what you decide but, since some booze is not made in Canada, whoever wants to buy it, will buy it.
Carney telling Canadians not to travel to the USA, meanwhile Liberal MP and Trudeau bootlicker Anthony Housefather went down to the USA to take part in and help the US Democratic in a primary.
The people claiming they will continue to buy “local” remind of the Canadians who in early 2025 went looking for “Canadian orange juice” in grocery stores, or the urban suckers who go to “Farmers markets” in May.
Canada doesn’t make Bourbon. Sorry, there is no substitute. I buying makes me a “traitor” to Canada then so be it.
Travel has been increasing to the US for the last 3 months. A lot of Canadians don’t care if they support the US during an economic war.
Alberta Mark
August 21, 2026 at 9:20 am
Beyond the pale that some posters claim Canadian alcohol is more expensive. More misinformation. Obviously they’ve never bought wine or liquor. As conservatives, they just say things to attack everything Canadian and have zero loyalty to Canada.
Why is it always about alcohol with the elbows up crew, have you taken a look at the grocery stores?
American products are cheaper and better its as simple as that.
So If I don’t like Canadian wine and buy from somewhere else I am a traitor. Only an Elbows Up Canadian would think that way. These are the same people who wanted to control every aspect of society during the Rona pandemic. Forcing people to wear face diapers, etc
Beyond the pale that some posters claim Canadian alcohol is more expensive. More misinformation. Obviously they’ve never bought wine or liquor. As conservatives, they just say things to attack everything Canadian and have zero loyalty to Canada.
Elbows Up Canadians are suckers. Willing to buy “local” and it is 2-3 times the cost. When I go shopping I compare and get deals. I don’t waste money needlessly. With Ontario wine, it is more expensive generally, even against French. Quality and price go hand in hand.
I agree with an earlier commenter who said Canadians who buy it are quislings. These people would sell out their mother for a few loonies.
Black lives matter!
Keep those elbows flapping you squishy bags of milk !
Did not buy it before, why would I start now?
But definitely let the people decide. That is true democracy. And we know that true democracy makes socialist type governments twitch in fear. Lol
Never stopped
Anonymous
August 21, 2026 at 7:17 am
Patriotic Canadian
August 21, 2026 at 6:59 am
The “Canadians” saying they will buy American are quislings.
Keep those elbows up, ever since stores slapped those Canadian flags on the shelves prices have been going up and up and up. Sorry but American products are better and cheaper.
So who and what gives you the right to be the mouthpiece sh*tting on everyone? I am not going buy the cr*p and that makes me some sort of whatever in that feeble little mind, I dont really care.
Go ahead, buy the rotgut, drink away. Have fun. Frigging holier than thou mouthpiece
IT would be nice if canadians DIDN’T buy it.
Patriotic Canadian
August 21, 2026 at 6:59 am
The “Canadians” saying they will buy American are quislings.
Keep those elbows up, ever since stores slapped those Canadian flags on the shelves prices have been going up and up and up. Sorry but American products are better and cheaper.
The “Canadians” saying they will buy American are quislings.
Lots of Americans pretending to be Canadians in the comments badmouthing Canada’s wines and liqour which experts agree are better than the USA.
Ontario wine is poor quality and very overpriced. Sorry won’t but it just to be some so called Canadian patriot Some BC wines are okay, but still overpriced I can zip down into the states and pick up a few bottles that are way cheaper than Canada. I like French, Italian, Argentina wine also Canada wine is mediocre so I choose not to buy it. Sorry not to be “Elbows Up”.
Listening to Wab and Eby is enough to make any rational human being want to slam back a bottle of the Crown .
I drink Albertan beer and scotch whisky. Why buy anything American there’s better quality to be had. Most Canadians didn’t buy American anyways.
I am planning to buy a case of America’s finest today, if anything interesting remains on the shelves. I believe many people have forgotten how to buy what they like without the nanny state telling them what to think.
Like Wab said, if it goes back on shelves, leave it there.
Everyone who was buying it before, will start buying it again.
Absolutely. We love ❤️ America. President Trump is the best thing to happen for America in a long while.
Everyone will buy ….Canadian !!!
Everyone will buy!!
Can’t wait to get my hands on some American booze again. Nothing else seems to keep my sump pit clean.
Carney prefers Italian wine over Canada. He doesn’t support local industries. More pretty words, but nothing more.
Alberta and BC Beekeepers were crying foul on Carney as the new Trump tarrifs would cut keep. 80% of the honey is
exported to the US. Meanwhile Carney boasts Canada is self sufficient and its own best customer. The honey producer would collapse if they can’t export to the USA. Carney is delusional.
US alcohol manufacturers obviously have put a lot of pressure on the Trump administration to get their product back on Canadian shelves. Put US alcohol back on the shelf. Let the consumer decide what they want to buy.
This concession allows our negotiators to complete their deal. Don’t cut off your noses to spite your faces.
Carney is my hero. I shoot a load in my pants every time I think about Carney and Trudeau together.
Carney encouraged everyone to vacation in Canada but so far Carney has vacationed every where but in Canada.
Another do as I say not as I do liberal leader
I’m buying it. I love bourbon. The people can decide for themslevesm, and the government can go f *uck itself.
People should just but what they want and not worry about where it comes from or who owns the company. I would buy American alcohol if it prices right and would do the same if it was Canadian, Spanish or any where else that it came from. It is my personal right to purchase what I want and do not have to scolded by the snow flakes.
Please people go out and buy what you want.
Would go to the states tomorrow if our Dollar was back up to 90 cents or more.
Just enjoy and live your 90 years or so in this planet and live happy instead of all the negativity that is seen on these comments. So sad that our society is going down like this. Gets worse everyday!
I agree that the cost of living is out of control but I try to live happy everyday!
I’ll buy US booze just to spite the chicken dancers.
Sorry. My attitudes to alcohol are not governed by the Trump Administration. I buy and drink what I want. I think some people need to get lives as Trump lives rent free in their heads.
ALBERTA PREMIUM!!!!
The rest of us will buy the American booze ( that’s not the important fight anyhow….has nothing to do with the important issues)….. because we’ve all quit drinking whiskey ever since the only option was
I am in Alberta and buy a few California wines from time to time. Just imagine what would happen to the Canadian wine industry if American retailers behaved like some Canadian Provinces have. It would destroy the wine industry in Canada. 88% of all wine exported from Canada is bought by USA. Time for Canadians to grow up and realize the USA is our largest customer like it or not.
Now the conservatives are insulting the Premiers who support Carney.
P Zaruk – Kinew a Carney bootlicker who spent over $100Million digging up a garbage dump in Winnipeg.
I with Wab Kinew, you will never get a good deal from a bad man, trump is a POS, I hope Canadians look very very carefully at anything he offers. Won’t be buying anything from the US I can avoid as long as trump is in office.
My name is Ben and there are conservatives living in my head, they dont even pay rent.
Can’t wait to get my hands on a bottle of jack.
My name is Ben and I am an unemployed liberal pot head so stoned I look up to Trudeau.
Ben, he also championed MAID, do Canada a solid and give it a try just once.
I’ll buy what’s cheapest and taste best . Trudeau the clown ruined Canada and he’s off playing in the USA . Clown Carney has most of his investments in the USA and two kids that live there . Keep your elbows up clowns right to the poor house filed with non assimilating refugees and immigrants in the take.
I don’t drink alcohol but smoke weed 24/7. Trudeau is my hero as he legalized it.
I see they left the door to the hospitals computer room unlocked again
MOST AMERICAN BOOZE TASTES LIKE SEWER WATER
USA should boycott all booze from Canada. Fair is fair
I don’t buy anything local if it is alot more $. Canadian wine is total rot got and even more expensive than better quality Oregon / California.
@Malcom
Big difference. Canadian beef is double if not more per KG. Canadians can’t afford Canadian beef. I hate it, but it’s true.
We don’t need to spend the same amount of money on an American brand of alcohol.
Yet nobody sees a problem with buying Australian Beef. Support Canadian farmers!
Only a select few mini MAGA Poilievre followers will buy it. As a member of gen z, I don’t drink but heard alcohol is bad for you.
I have an idea…
Everyone who objects to the return of US alcohol should go buy as much US alcohol as you can and dump it down the drain.
Then there won’t be any left for the mapleMAGA traitors to buy.
That will show Trump that nobody here drinks his alcohol.
The United States purchases approximately $1.4 billion worth of Canadian alcoholic beverages annually.
Carney the clown can fold but Canadians won’t buy US trash anymore
The USA never took Canadian booze off there shelves. Nobody bought it in the first place.
No. Only traitors will.
It’ll be hilarious when it comes back and very few buy it. Trump will call us NASTY.
The provinces that don’t have US alcohol on the shelves don’t have much faith in Canadians not to buy it. Put it back on the shelves and let’s see how accurate the polls are against US booze It’s easy to say one thing in a poll and another to practice what you say.
Nope
74% Avoidance Rate (Nanos Research): A Nanos poll found that 74% of Canadians are unlikely to buy American alcohol if a trade deal puts it back on shelves
Hell no! US under Trump is damaged goods. It’s good we’re able to use the banned as negotiating tactic to get a better deal.
I hope they bring it back. I’ll buy it. Need it to clean my toilets.
Keep it in Canada.
Local products…produce whatever a person can find.
Keep our people employed.
Let US booze rot on the shelves.
We need more Canadian Department Stores…not Walmarts…
So sad…Sears..The Bay…and many others Good Old Canadian stores…where squeezed out…years ago..
Look at the mess were in..with overpriced junk …and poor quality booze…
Nothing like a Cold Canadian Beer..
Price is king. especially in increasingly unaffordable Canada.
I’m an American posting on Canadian sites. Love to stir the pot. You can see all my posts below….
Canada as defined by Trudeau and Carney as a systemically racist “post national state, with no core identity, no mainstream” ethics, borders, rule of law, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or fiscal restraint is not something to be patriotic about or worth Elbows Up boycotting the US over.
OF COURSE THEY WILL , STUPID ELEMENTARY QUESTION !!! GROW THE F / K UP GLOBAL ! MOST IDIOTS 99% ALREADY FORGOT WHY IT WAS PULLED IN THE FIRST PLACE !!!
answer is yes and yes.
There’s some grumbling from Quebec that master negotiator Mark may have sold out their dairy monopoly to get a deal with Trump.
Based on his past stellar performance with the Gordie Howe Bridge and standing up for Canada on everything else, they have nothing to worry about.
He most certainly did sell them out.
Yes , who ever has the best price, not going to play this Elbows game.
I’ve never bought much US booze. Maybe bottle of bourbon now and then, but Lot40 is my fave whisky and canadian.
Yes – Still am buying US Booze since i live in the better province
Yes
I am never buying US booze again.
I am going to get a shirt saying “not buying USA” from Amazon and I will wear it every time I go shopping at Walmart and Costco.
Unless there is no other choice…I don’t buy American anything.
Yep for sure
No, this family won’t. That’s for damn sure.
We have plenty of good local distillers, wineries, and craft breweries. Don’t need to buy US swill. Put it on the shelves and see what happens.
Ontario wine is sub par and more money than California and Oregon. I drive into Saskatchewan (about 75) from my home in Manitoba to buy the US brands I want. Kinew is a Carney bootlicker.
Of course will but USA product. Not spending extra $ on CDN product that isn’t as good.
USA liquor has been back on selves in Alberta a long time. I love Kentucky Bourbon. Glad to see Smith and Moe in Saskatchewan are the adults in the room and didn’t buy into the Elbows Up childish theatrics.
Put it on the bottom shelf, way in the back or on the top shelf in the wrong section. Make the folks that want to make a point with it have to find it.
@Brad. I agree.
Of course mini MAGA Poilievre supporters will buy it. Anything to support Trump and Poilievre.
Brad’s a muppet
Yup. I’ll drink what I want and what I like. Go put your elbows up someplace else. When you’re not trying to shame Canadians on their history and culture.
Maybe I’d toast the end of trump.
Nah….rather have some weed any day.
Yes. Missing my pink Whitt!!!
Yeah. Indeed. Ok. Alright. Aldjchlamanchslkanch271973.;’!
Anyone remember “Freedom Fries” from when France opposed the USA / Iraq war?
“Elbows Up” has the same energy. I find it embarrassing and should it be mocked accordingly.
Let’s ban US junk food. It’s poisoning Canadians.
Agreed Dave.
This Canadian will
I think the ban is childish stupidity
Take away the restrictions and put it on the shelves. The consumers will choose for themselves. The problem is government. Not people.