Hit the road, Jack Daniels. Ta-ta Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Buh-bye Basil Hayden. Farewell Far Niente.
Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday ordered the removal of all American booze from the shelves of LCBO stores across Ontario, among other sweeping countermeasures against U.S. President Donald Trump.
That means no Tennessee sour mash whiskey or Texas vodka or Kentucky bourbon or California wine in the province for the duration of the trade war.
That was Ford’s initial response to Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods.
It wasn’t his last.
The premier also cancelled the province’s $100-million satellite internet deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink and threatened 25 per cent export taxes on electricity sent from Ontario to 1.5 million customers in New York, Michigan and Minnesota.
“We need to make sure America feels the pain. Stop buying U.S. goods,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park.
“We’re ripping up Ontario’s contract with Starlink. It’s done, it’s gone. We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country,” he said.
Taking aim at Musk, the world’s richest man and one of Trump’s most influential advisers, Ford reminded people that the Tesla tycoon used to live in Ontario when his family emigrated from South Africa in 1989.
“Isn’t it ironic that … part of his education was at Queen’s and he’s attacking the country and the province that gave him the opportunity to go to Queen’s University. They should be embarrassed that he went to Queen’s,” the premier said.
“He should be embarrassed to attack the people that took care of him for a number of years with his family.”
On electricity exports, Ford said if Trump escalates his levies next month, then Ontario would “immediately apply a 25 per cent surcharge on the electricity we export.”
“We will not hesitate to shut off their power as well,” he said, adding he has instructed the civil service to look at what other existing government contracts with American companies can be terminated.
“Starting today, all U.S.-based companies will be banned from taking part in government procurement. Every year, the province and its agencies spend about $30 billion on procurement. U.S.-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in revenues and they only have President Trump to blame.”
That message appeared to reach the Trump White House — minutes after Ford’s news conference, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the premier from Washington and urged him to tone down the rhetoric.
But sources said that during a “tense” 10-minute conversation the premier refused to back down despite Lutnick’s pleas.
Ford, whose Progressive Conservatives were re-elected last Thursday, said he would “spare no expense — similar to the pandemic” on measures to help businesses hurt by the tariffs.
Even though the legislature will not be back for a few weeks, the premier said money could flow to aid those affected by Trump’s trade war.
“The coming days and weeks will be hard. Businesses and families will feel the pain of this needless fight, but together, we’re going to stand up for Canada,” he said.
Warning the skirmish would be painful for both Americans and Canadians, Ford said the president would rue the day he started the tariff tiff.
“The American people don’t agree with him and he will pay the price in the midterms,” he said, referring to the November 2026 midterm elections in which Trump’s Republicans could lose control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In the meantime, auto plants on both sides of the border will “shut down within 10 days” due to supply chain problems, predicted Ford.
That could mean tens of thousands of workers being laid off as their factories are idled.
“We could have poured our efforts into making Canada and the U.S. the two richest, most successful, most secure two countries on the planet,” he said.
“Unfortunately, one man, President Trump, has chosen chaos instead.”
As LCBO workers removed U.S. bottles and cans from about 680 stores and another 389 rural agency stores in cottage country, the Crown corporation’s website was temporarily shut down “while we remove U.S. products in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.”
The retailer, which sells $1 billion worth of 3,600 different products from 35 American states, also controls all the booze wholesaling in Ontario.
That means American products will soon not be available to bars, restaurants, specialty bottle shops, licensed grocery stores and big box outlets.
Ford, who is chair of the Council of the Federation, and other premiers met virtually later Tuesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss further retaliatory moves.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who was visiting Queen’s Park, said his province is also taking U.S. booze off provincial shelves and is doubling tolls for U.S. commercial vehicles at the border.
Houston is leading the push among the premiers to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers to lessen Canada’s reliance on trading with the U.S.
The Nova Scotian said Trump needs to learn how badly he can be burned in a trade dispute.
“Some people need to touch the hot stove,” he said.
