UPDATE, Monday, Feb. 3: Following word from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that tariffs had been delayed until for 30 days, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said all retaliatory measures, including at the LCBO, would be postponed until tariffs are implemented.
Big changes are coming to Ontario liquor stores as part of the ongoing trade war. The LCBO is confirming that it will be pulling all American alcohol from its shelves starting Tuesday.
The crown agency sells up to $965 million worth of American alcohol annually, with more than 3,600 products from the U.S.
“As part of Ontario’s response strategy to the imposed U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, the government of Ontario has directed LCBO to indefinitely stop all sales of U.S. alcohol products in our stores and online and to stop wholesale sales of U.S. products to restaurants, bars, grocery, and other retailers, no later than February 4, 2025,” the LCBO told CTV News Ottawa in a statement.
The move will impact restaurants, bars, and breweries. At Beyond the Pale brewery, the owner says it will make it more difficult to make some drinks.
“I was personally most worried about Bourbons and stocked up a little bit when I heard about it because that’s kind of one of the products that’s only made in the U.S.,” said Shane Clark, a co-owner at the Ottawa brewery.
Clark says he’s hoping the move means more people will support local.
“We’d love to be able to sell more beer locally,” he said. “The way that the licensing works, we actually only sell in Ontario now because it’s quite prohibitive to move it to the other provinces. It’s not very easy to move your beer around in this country.”
Meanwhile, the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel, and Motel Association has expressed its full support for the removal of the U.S. liquor, saying there’s plenty of alternative products available within the province.
