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Canada’s boycott of American spirits isn’t just dragging down sales of U.S. brands in the country. It’s squeezing all alcohol spending, including for domestic products, according to the latest analysis from the trade group Spirits Canada.
Sales of U.S. spirits in Canada fell 66% between March 5, around the time when Canadian provinces announced they would no longer carry American liquor, through the end of April. Total spirits sales fell nearly 13%.
In Ontario, the country’s biggest market, American spirits sales plunged 80% since U.S. products were removed in the province, the analysis found.
The overall market is shrinking as Canadian drinkers skip the liquor store altogether. The spirits category declined year-over-year in April, contracting 3.3% to $405.5 million.
Since delisting, sales of Canadian-made spirits dropped 6.3% while other imported spirits fell 8.2%, according to the report.
The removal of U.S. products from Canadian shelves “is deeply problematic for spirits producers on both sides of the border,” said Cal Bricker, chief executive officer of Spirits Canada, in a statement. Spirits Canada and the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. are urging their respective governments to come to a new tariff agreement, the groups said.
Several Canadian provinces pulled U.S. spirits from liquor stores following President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on certain imports. Canada retaliated by removing American wines and spirits from government-run stores in many provinces.
American whiskey and other U.S. spirits have all but vanished from Ontario’s government-run liquor stores as part of Canada’s retaliation for U.S. trade tariffs. Ontario’s government controls not just distribution but many of the retail outlets, and it’s taken a hard line by stripping U.S. products from liquor store shelves. Still, U.S. beer brands are more easily available.
The magnitude of the impact cited by the study is larger than expected, said Kenneth Shea, senior analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.
“An extended period of boycotting could continue to place further pressure on international sales growth to the U.S. spirits industry at a time in which consumers are already cutting back due to economic and lifestyle reasons,” Shea said.
Still, for some U.S. companies, the financial hit may be limited. Canada accounts for only a small share of sales for major spirits makers, according to Bill Kirk, a Roth Capital Partners analyst. For example, at Brown-Forman Corp., the maker of Jack Daniel’s, Canada likely represents about 1% of annual sales, he said.
“Not ideal, and worse than the products simply carrying an additional tariff, but something that can be navigated,” Kirk said.
Beyond the government bans, many consumers are voluntarily boycotting U.S. products. More than 60% of Canadian households are now spending less on U.S.-made goods — not just alcohol — as trade tensions and nationalist sentiment take hold, according to a survey by the Bank of Canada.
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