Ontorio liquor ban stays: Doug Ford warns no American booze without fair trade deal; domestic sales surge
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday said that the province’s ban on American alcohol will stay in place until US President Donald Trump removes tariffs on Canadian goods or a new free trade deal is reached. He cautioned that such an agreement could take a long time.Ford introduced the ban in March, ordering the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to remove US alcohol from its shelves in response to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products. He indicated the ban could become a bargaining chip in upcoming negotiations on a new North American free trade pact, as reported by CBC. “If there’s a deal, another USMCA deal, which I don’t think is going to happen for the next few months — but you never know with President Trump, he could pull the carpet out from underneath us in a heartbeat like he has before — or they get rid of their tariffs and then we’ll bring the booze back into the LCBO, and if they don’t, then they aren’t getting any booze on our shelves,” Ford said. Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the country would lift certain retaliatory tariffs on American goods covered under the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), signaling a different approach from Ford. In March, Canada had imposed 25 per cent tariffs on a wide range of American products, including oranges, alcohol, motorcycles, and cosmetics. Carney explained that those measures reflected the state of negotiations at the time, but a different approach is now required.However, Canada is keeping its counter-tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles at 25 per cent.Trump has steadily increased tariffs on Canadian goods, raising them to 35 per cent in August, citing cross-border fentanyl flows and Canada’s counter-tariffs as reasons. Some duties remain exempt under CUSMA.Ford continues to push for a firm response, saying Canada must protect its steelworkers by matching US tariffs dollar-for-dollar.“I just believe when they’re tariffing us 50 per cent on our steel and the whole world’s using Canada as a dumping ground for steel, we have to make changes,” Ford said.“We’re tariffing them 25 per cent, fair is fair. I’d tariff them 50 per cent on our aluminum, copper, forestry products and obviously steel. We have to protect our steelworkers here in Ontario. So we have to fight fire with fire, but we’ll see how the prime minister makes out.”Meanwhile, Ontario’s ban has boosted domestic alcohol sales. Since the policy took effect, Ontario wine sales have risen 67 per cent, while overall sales of Ontario and Canadian-made alcohol at the LCBO grew 19 per cent in three months.In Quebec, the liquor board was considering discarding expired US alcohol but was directed instead to donate it to charity. Ford said Ontario has no plans to destroy American alcohol yet. “We still have a few months before anything expires and we’ll take it from there,” he said.His office clarified that less than one per cent of US alcohol has expired and another one per cent will not expire for another decade.Liberal parliamentary leader John Fraser argued that the alcohol ban should be leveraged by the federal government during trade negotiations. However, he noted that Ford is not involved in the talks and said the premier’s tough words about Trump are just for show.“It’s all show and no substance,” Fraser said.
