LILLEY: Trump escalates trade war, targets Canadian whisky and more

Ottawa and the provinces wanted a show of strength. Now Washington is hitting back with booze bans, new tariffs and import restrictions.

Published Sep 08, 2026  •  3 minute read

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Prime Minister Mark Carney at a working lunch with leaders of G7 and the Middle East, on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. Photo by Evelyn Hockstein - Pool /Getty Images

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source 

Article content

It didn’t take long for the Empire to strike back.

Article content

Article content

Less than 24 hours after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs came into effect, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs, contract exclusions and even a booze ban in response.

A series of executive orders signed on Tuesday take aim at Canada and Canadian products, including “Rye whiskies, other than Irish and Scotch whiskies, in containers each holding not over 4 liters.”

Essentially, Trump is now banning the importation of Canadian alcohol in retaliation for the American booze ban put into effect by every province and territory other than Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Trump’s retaliatory booze ban also applies to beer and wine, but it is the spirits side of the industry, and Canadian whisky in particular, that will be hit.

Of the roughly $1.5 billion CAD worth of Canadian alcohol sold to the United States each year, about $1 billion is in the spirits sector alone.

Crown Royal, made in Gimli, Manitoba, will be the hardest hit. It is said that more Crown Royal is sold in Texas than in all of Canada. This is Canada’s number one exported spirit.

Article content

Article content

Second on the list would be Black Velvet, made in Lethbridge, Alta. While it doesn’t have a big domestic market share anymore, it remains an American staple. Third would be Canadian Club, made in Windsor, Ont.

Americans buy nearly half of all spirits distilled in Canada. While this move won’t have a major impact on wine or beer, it will be massive for Canadian distillers.

Remember when Ontario Premier Doug Ford poured out a bottle of Crown Royal over roughly 250 jobs being lost as a bottling plant closed? This is several times that magnitude, with thousands of direct jobs in distilling now under threat from a single Trump executive order.

Whisky takes the hit

The Americans have also banned several other Canadian products, including whey protein, several types of molasses and non-alcoholic beer.

On Monday, ahead of this announcement, Sapporo Breweries announced it would move some production, specifically for non-alcoholic beer, from its Sleeman plant in Guelph, Ont., to an American facility.

Article content

There is also a ban on motorcycles and mopeds above 800 cc.

Above and beyond the bans, there are tariffs of 50% on a variety of Canadian goods, including cheese, paper products, aluminum products, motorboats and furniture.

A trade fight that keeps growing

For those keeping score, this started with the Americans imposing tariffs on steel, autos and aluminum, claiming national security concerns, starting in March 2025.

The federal government retaliated with its own tariffs, and provincial governments responded with alcohol and procurement bans, effectively shutting American companies out of government contracts.

We also had Canadian politicians, chief among them now former prime minister Justin Trudeau, encouraging people not to visit the United States. He now spends a lot of time stateside with his new girlfriend, pop star Katy Perry.

By any measure, Canada’s initial retaliation went above and beyond what the Americans had imposed on us. We wanted to show that we were tough and wouldn’t be pushed around in trade talks.

Article content

Now, here we are more than a year later, and the Americans are deciding to flex.

When the Americans imposed tariffs on the entire world, they love to point out that just two countries retaliated: China and Canada.

Eventually, China stopped retaliating and said this is crazy. In Canada, though, we keep upping the ante and inviting the Americans to do the same.

There’s another way

This isn’t a call to say we should do nothing or that we should accept any deal they send our way.

Prime Minister Carney was right to walk away from the bad deal on the table on Aug. 21.

That doesn’t mean our only response is an ever-increasing tariff war.

We have options to get a good deal. We just keep choosing not to use them.

Some of those options include working closely with the Americans. The Carney government keeps saying no to that.

They prefer China and the European Union, even though that doesn’t lead to the same economic outcomes.

The Americans just raised the stakes. The question now is whether Ottawa has a plan beyond raising them again.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content