Overview: President Donald Trump’s import ban on Canadian liquor has not succeeded in redirecting consumer demand toward American spirits. New data indicates that while Canadian whisky lost significant sales volume, American whiskey volume slipped slightly as shoppers shifted spending toward canned cocktails and tequila instead.
The Full Story
The first weeks of the ban revealed that a government decree cannot easily reassign drinker preferences. In September, as tariffs and an import ban closed in, Canadian whisky lost more than 15,000 cases of sales from a year earlier in the 18 states where government agencies control liquor sales. American whiskey gained none of them. Its volume slipped 0.1 percent, though dollar sales edged up 0.8 percent, according to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. This occurred in a month when overall spirits volume rose 3.2 percent. The growth went elsewhere: to canned cocktails, up nearly 29 percent, and to tequila, up 9.5 percent.
Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, told Newsweek there is no benefit to American producers with the import ban. The trade dispute context highlights a pattern of retaliation. In March 2025, most Canadian provinces pulled American wine and spirits from their government liquor stores in response to tariffs. Jack Daniel’s and Kentucky bourbon vanished from shelves across most of the country. Industry figures released at the time showed sales of Canadian-made spirits down 6.3 percent in the boycott’s first weeks. American distillers paid dearly, with whiskey exports to Canada falling 57 percent in 2025, to $33 million.
Washington has now run the same experiment in reverse under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, effective at 12:01 a.m. September 29. The order bans packaging, not brands, and whisky shipped in containers larger than four liters is exempt. Crown Royal already arrives in bulk and is bottled in the United States, allowing it to keep flowing while small distilleries face restrictions. The ban presses Ottawa, but the shelves belong to the premiers.
Brand & Industry History
The industry has navigated an unpredictable marketplace since June 2018, when the European Union first answered U.S. steel tariffs by taxing American whiskey. Spirits have become a leverage point because of the iconic nature of brands in disputes that have nothing to do with the industry. Chris Swonger noted that distillers are intertwined across borders, yet the ban presses Ottawa while the shelves belong to the premiers. Eight of 10 provinces still aren’t buying American alcohol, with British Columbia Premier David Eby stating there was not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol would return to his province’s shelves.
What This Means
The ban’s deeper flaw is that it pulls the wrong lever regarding shelf space and consumer choice. Ottawa does not tariff American liquor, but the barrier remains the provinces which run their own liquor systems and decide what to stock. Swonger said he is very hopeful that American spirits can get back on the shelves in the provinces as the import ban is lifted. What distillers want is a return to a predictable, zero for zero, trade-barrier-free environment. Time is short because the holiday selling season is the most important time of the year for the Canadian and U.S. spirits industry. Until a deal arrives, the bottles on both sides of the border remain bargaining chips in this broader trade dispute.
Consumer Takeaway
American consumers love Canadian whiskey just like they love Scotch and Irish whiskey, but bourbon was not waiting to catch it. A drinker who loses one does not automatically reach for the other. Increasingly, that drinker reaches for a can. The September figures include only two days of the ban itself, so the October report expected in early December will be the first full month under it.
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