TORONTO – Sales of spirits from the United States have plunged in Canada as provinces and consumers push back against U.S. trade hostility, but industry groups found overall sales are down too.
Spirits sales from the U.S. were down 66.3 per cent in the March 5 to April 30 stretch compared with a year earlier, said Spirits Canada and and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States in a joint release Tuesday.
The drop came as provinces removed U.S. products from store shelves as a protest against U.S. tariffs and threats of annexation, but the two groups note that sales of domestic spirits in Canada also saw a 6.3 per cent decline and total sales in Canada were down 12.8 per cent over the two-month period.
March saw the biggest disruptions as the U.S. imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, leading Canada to impose billions of dollars in counter-tariffs along with making a show of removing U.S. alcohol from store shelves.
Total spirits sales were down 20.6 per cent in March from a year earlier, and fell 3.3 per cent in April year-over-year, though sales of Canadian spirits did edge 3.6 per cent higher in April.
The removal of U.S. products from shelves is deeply problematic for spirits producers on both sides of the border, said Cal Bricker, head of Spirits Canada in a statement.
“The current disruption demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining open, reciprocal trade relationships that benefit consumers, businesses and government revenues in both nations.”
The overall decline in April sales to $405.5 million, down from $419.4 million a year earlier, shows substitute products can’t fully replace demand previously filled by U.S. spirits, the group said.
Chris Swonger, head of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, said it was time to put American spirits products back on Canadian store shelves.
But premiers of provinces that have maintained blocks on U.S. products voiced their continued support for the policy this week as a way to keep the pressure up in negotiations.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called for all provinces to push harder on buy Canadian as premiers gathered in Huntsville, Ont.
“We’re encouraging all provinces and territories, start buying Canadian-made vehicles. Start buying Canadian-made everything, that will hurt them more than anything at all.”
On Monday, U.S. ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra told a conference in Washington State that U.S. President Donald Trump thinks Canada is “nasty” to deal with, in part because of bans on American alcohol.
B.C. Premier David Eby said those comments show Canadians’ efforts to stand up to Trump are “having an impact,” and he encouraged people to “keep it up.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2025.
Note to readers:This is a corrected story. A previous version gave the incorrect end date for the sales period.
