Trump just banned Canadian booze — but there’s a big catch

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.

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.

But making that switch requires having the right containers on hand or sourcing them from scratch, then rebottling smaller sizes more commonly sold in liquor stores. All that could add to businesses’ costs – and potentially get tacked on to the prices consumers pay.

Crown Royal appears to be especially well-positioned since the company already sends bulk shipments of whisky to the United States, where it bottles all products sold domestically.

Beyond bulk exemptions, very few alcoholic beverages shipped from Canada were spared.

“Using import bans against an ally is unprecedented and a major deviation from US trade policy,” said Inu Manak, a senior fellow focused on trade policy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “This is a very symbolic thing to target. It sends a message and is another form of escalation aimed at getting Canadian negotiators back to the table. But Prime Minister Carney is not in a rush to get a deal before the (US) midterms.”

How Canada’s tariffs were designed to hurt Trump

Some employees and executives in the alcohol industry expressed dismay about the escalating trade war.

“It’s really unfortunate our industry has gotten pulled into this,” said Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), an industry trade group. “We American distillers export around the world. We don’t want tariffs applied to our products and we don’t want tariffs applied to our imports. We like to compete by sip and taste, not tariffs.”

Swonger described the ban on US alcohol by some Canadian provinces as an “unforced error” and expressed hope the US ban forces a change in policy.

“We’re working hard to get both governments back to the table to get this resolved,” he said.

Manak noted that Canadian provinces banned US alcohol only in response to threatened US tariffs.

“In playground parlance, the United Stated started it. That was Canada responding,” she said.

And now US officials are responding to that response, demonstrating how an escalatory tit-for-tat cycle gets out of hand.

A manager from a Niagara Falls, New York, liquor store located less than five miles away from the Canadian border told CNN he is confused and concerned about the US ban on Canadian alcohol.

“We have a lot of Canadian customers and a lot of Canadian liquor. This is not good for business,” said the manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “People have freedom to drink, right?”

An employee at a Port Huron, Michigan, liquor store near the border with Ontario similarly told CNN that many of his customers buy Canadian whisky including Crown Royal, Black Velvet and Rich and Rare.

But the Michigan liquor store employee added that store traffic from Canadians has declined significantly over the past year or so.

“We have a lot fewer Canadian customers than we used to,” he said.

To impose the Canadian alcohol ban, Trump is relying on Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the infamous trade law that exacerbated the Great Depression (and that was hilariously featured in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”).

The law allows the president of the United States to impose tariffs of up to 50% or even ban certain imports when another country discriminates against “commerce of the United States,” according to the statute. But because no president before Trump has used the law this way, courts have not weighed in on what the administration must prove to meet its requirements.

Courtesy of Fit Foods LP

Attention, protein-maxxers: Trump’s trade war is coming for your whey

In addition to alcohol, Canadian dairy products, such as whey, and motorcycles are also subject to bans, with the Trump administration similarly alleging unfair treatment of American businesses. In total, the bans cover close to $1 billion worth of goods the US imported from Canada last year, according to federal trade data.

The partial Canadian ban on US booze has been painful for the American industry.

Exports of US spirits to Canada plummeted by 70% after Canadian provinces started removing US wine and spirits from store shelves in March 2025, according to DISCUS.

But the Canadian alcohol industry is especially reliant on American consumers.

About 93% of Canadian spirits went to the United States in 2025, according to DISCUS.

“It’s going to be absolutely devastating for Canada and Canadian distillers,” said Swonger.

克里斯托弗·卡萨洛夫·卢纳/彭博社/盖蒂图片社

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对加拿大酒类的禁令于周二生效，这一史无前例的举措凸显了世界上关系最密切的贸易关系之一的破裂。

这项禁令影响到美国去年进口的价值 8 亿美元的加拿大酒精饮料，标志着这场针锋相对的贸易战的最新一轮交锋。这场贸易战已经包括高额关税以及安大略省和其他加拿大省份对美国酒类的禁令。

然而，专家表示，大多数美国购物者不太可能立即注意到这项禁令，部分原因是存在变通方法、豁免条款，以及分销商在禁令生效前有时间储备进口的加拿大酒类。

与此同时，由于美加贸易形势瞬息万变，任何事情都可能随时改变。就在禁令生效前几个小时，特朗普表示他相信美国最终会胜出，并期待加拿大很快与美国达成协议。

“他们想和我们达成协议，他们一直给我们打电话。问题是他们对待美国非常不公平，”特朗普周一告诉记者。

特朗普说：“未来三到四周，他们会来找我们，说‘我们会取消所有关税’。” 然而，加拿大总理马克·卡尼尚未就此发表任何言论。

威士忌和利口酒是加拿大对美国出口的两大酒精饮料，如果包装容量超过四升，则不受禁令限制。在这种情况下，它们也不会被征收任何关税。

但要实现这种转变，企业需要备齐合适的容器，或者从零开始采购，然后重新分装成酒类商店常见的较小规格。所有这些都可能增加企业的成本，并最终转嫁到消费者的购买价格上。

皇冠威士忌似乎占据了特别有利的地位，因为该公司已经向美国批量运送威士忌，并在美国进行装瓶，销售所有国内产品。

除了大宗豁免外，从加拿大运出的酒精饮料几乎没有得到豁免。

“对盟友实施进口禁令史无前例，也与美国的贸易政策大相径庭，”彼得森国际经济研究所专注于贸易政策的高级研究员伊努·马纳克表示。“这是一个极具象征意义的打击目标。它传递了一个信息，也是旨在迫使加拿大谈判代表重返谈判桌的另一种升级手段。但卡尼总理并不急于在（美国）中期选举前达成协议。”

加拿大关税是如何设计用来打击特朗普的？

一些酒类行业的员工和高管对不断升级的贸易战表示失望。

“我们这个行业被卷入这件事真是太不幸了，”美国蒸馏酒协会（DISCUS）主席兼首席执行官克里斯·斯旺格（Chris Swonger）说道。DISCUS是一个行业贸易组织。“我们美国酿酒商的产品出口到世界各地。我们不希望我们的产品被征收关税，也不希望我们的进口产品被征收关税。我们希望凭借口感来竞争，而不是靠关税。”

斯旺格将加拿大一些省份禁止美国酒精饮料的做法描述为“不必要的错误”，并表示希望美国的禁令能够迫使加拿大改变政策。

他说：“我们正在努力促使两国政府重回谈判桌，以解决这个问题。”

马纳克指出，加拿大各省禁止销售美国酒类产品只是因为面临美国加征关税的威胁。

“用孩子们的话来说，是美国先挑起的争端。那是加拿大的回应，”她说。

现在，美国官员正在对这种回应做出回应，这表明不断升级的针锋相对的循环是如何失控的。

纽约州尼亚加拉瀑布城一家距离加拿大边境不到五英里的酒类商店的经理告诉 CNN，他对美国禁止加拿大酒类感到困惑和担忧。

“我们有很多加拿大顾客，也卖很多加拿大产的酒。这对生意不利，”这位不愿透露姓名的经理说。“人们有喝酒的自由，对吧？”

密歇根州休伦港一家靠近安大略省边境的酒类商店的一名员工也告诉 CNN，他的许多顾客购买加拿大威士忌，包括皇冠威士忌、黑天鹅绒威士忌和珍稀威士忌。

但密歇根州一家酒类商店的员工补充说，在过去一年左右的时间里，来自加拿大的顾客数量大幅下降。

他说：“我们的加拿大客户比以前少了很多。”

为了实施加拿大禁酒令，特朗普援引了 1930 年《斯穆特-霍利关税法》第 338 条，这是一部臭名昭著的贸易法，加剧了大萧条（电影《春天不是读书天》曾对此进行过滑稽的描述）。

根据该法，美国总统有权对其他国家歧视“美国商业”的商品征收最高达50%的关税，甚至禁止某些进口商品。但由于特朗普之前的总统从未如此使用过该法，法院尚未就政府必须证明哪些内容才能满足相关要求作出裁决。

承蒙 Fit Foods LP 惠允

蛋白质爱好者们注意了：特朗普的贸易战即将波及你们的乳清蛋白！

除了酒精饮料外，加拿大乳制品（例如乳清）和摩托车也受到禁令限制，特朗普政府同样指责加拿大对美国企业不公平对待。根据联邦贸易数据，这些禁令共涉及美国去年从加拿大进口的价值近10亿美元的商品。

加拿大对美国酒类的部分禁令给美国酒业带来了痛苦。

据 DISCUS 称，自 2025 年 3 月加拿大各省开始将美国葡萄酒和烈酒从商店货架上撤下后，美国烈酒对加拿大的出口量暴跌了 70%。

但加拿大酒类行业尤其依赖美国消费者。

据 DISCUS 预测，到 2025 年，加拿大约 93% 的烈酒将出口到美国。

“这对加拿大和加拿大酿酒商来说将是毁灭性的打击，”斯旺格说。