WARMINGTON: If you need a drink on 'Tariff Tuesday,' you may not be able to make it American
The LCBO has started to remove all American spirits and wines from Ontario's 677 retail stores
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This might have been the biggest alcohol story to hit Canada and the U.S. since Prohibition.
But this time it’s people in Ontario not being able to drink southern-made hooch.
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WARMINGTON: If you need a drink on 'Tariff Tuesday,' you may not be able to make it American Back to video
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It’s not every day you see the hard-working staff at the LCBO taking booze off the shelves instead of stocking them. But this was no ordinary day.
This was ‘Tariff Tuesday’ where U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s promised bizarre new 25% levy kicked in — leaving Premier Doug Ford in a position to make good on his own promise to take every bottle of Kentucky bourbon or California wine off every LCBO shelf in retaliation.
Ford was not kidding around. He ordered the LCBO staff to do that and box up all American products. From Tennessee’s Jack Daniels to Kentucky’s Jim Beam, that is exactly what they did.
“It’s one of my most unusual shifts,” said 25-year staffer Geron who along with peers Adrian, Marlon and Queen’s Quay store manager Dave Liley efficiently completed the unfortunate task with extreme professionalism.
When they were done boxing up bottles, they posted a notice on the empty shelves saying, “for the good of Ontario” and “for the good of Canada” in “response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, products produced in the U.S. are no longer available until further notice. Looking for an alternative? Ask our team about our extensive range of Ontario and Canadian made products.”
The staff’s professionalism went beyond showing Trump the impact this tariff war could have on American wineries and distilleries and the jobs that could disappear from the regions that produce these famous products.
Their professionalism was also on display as customers not up on the trade war and the minute-by-minute developments shopped.
Jason McCafferty was one of those customers.
“I had no idea,” he said as he went to grab a bottle of his Maker’s Mark staple from the shelf as news reporters gathered to capture such products being boxed up and sent back to the storeroom.
He got there in the nick of time to get his favourite but his first question in support of Ford’s decision was “what is a Canadian product that compares to it?”
Liley pointed to Ontario’s own Forty Creek Whisky. The LCBO allowed McCafferty to leave with what he came for knowing after this day, he may not be able to get it for a while.
But he also left with a bottle of Forty Creek.
“I am looking forward to trying it,” said McCafferty. “I will be buying Canadian from now on. I agree with Doug on this one.”
No hard feelings toward Maker’s Mark. He loves it, too, and will savour every drop of his last-minute purchase. But he may become a Canadian whisky guy as a result of all of this.
There were a lot of stories like that there. As I was telling LCBO media department professional Amy Waters, the staff at this store deserve a special pat on the back for their difficult task Tuesday. There were literally thousands of bottles to clear and curious customers to deal with.
Meanwhile, those looking to drown their Trump tariff sorrows with a shot of Kentucky bourbon understood they couldn’t purchase a bottle of their favourite American spirit anymore.
Ford instructed all 677 stores to remove all American products, which he said comes in annually at more than $1 billion in sales for a province he says is the biggest purchaser of alcohol products in the world.
The premier has also said he will match the American tariffs with reciprocal levies on nickel, steel, forestry and other products.
On CNN Tuesday, Ford said Canadians are “absolutely livid” that “unfortunately the president has gone sideways on ourselves” and “this is not right.”
Ford added “the president needs to be stopped. Simple as that.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also said there will be a list of $30 billion products targeted. Like Ford, Trudeau said all of this madness is about one man — Trump.
Trump responded on his Truth Social app, posting “please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a retaliatory tariff on the U.S., our reciprocal tariff will immediately increase by a like amount.”
This is a nasty situation. As both Ford and Trudeau said, Trump is trying to destroy Canada’s economy. And they will fight back.
The LCBO’s website is was also down — with a notice to those who clicked on it saying, “Our site is temporarily unavailable while we remove U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. Our in-store customer service remains unaffected. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
The whole thing was surreal.
And it was noticed south of the border, too.
Distilled Spirits Council (DSC) president and CEO Chris Swonger issued a statement saying while “we greatly appreciate and support President Trump’s leadership to protect the American people and jobs by pursuing fair and reciprocal trade,” for decades “this model of fair and reciprocal trade has been in place for spirits between Mexico, Canada and the United States, and the U.S. hospitality industry has flourished as a result.”
The DSC said “with spirits products between our three countries already benefitting from fair and reciprocal trade, it makes no sense to have them embroiled in this trade dispute” and that “tariffs on spirits products from Canada and Mexico will jeopardize the industry’s contribution to the U.S. economy” since “the North American spirits sector is highly interconnected and, as a result, tariffs on tequila and Canadian whisky will harm U.S. spirits companies that have these products in their brand portfolios.”
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At this point, there does not seem to be a backing-off posture, but instead an aggressive, trade-war approach — with both sides beating their chests and standing up strong.
It’s like a big game of chicken where no one can win.
Right now the big losers are the distillers of popular products like Jim Beam, Jack Daniels or Maker’s Mark which are all American-made.
As of March 4, 2025, they are no longer for sale in Ontario. And they are no longer on the shelves.
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