David Eby, premier of British Columbia, suggested last week that Canadians might stop buying American alcohol if President Donald Trump follows through with his tariff threat against Canada.
Eby has proposed several retaliatory measures against U.S. tariffs, which Trump has threatened to impose if Canada does not do more to secure its border. The alcohol threat, which Eby floated last Tuesday, seemed to capture the most attention.
“When you’re at the grocery store and you have a chance to buy a product right now, you’re looking carefully at the labels to support Canadian jobs and to support Canada at this critical time,” Eby remarked at a press conference.
The B.C. premier went on to observe that his province is a major market for U.S. alcohol products.
“As a result, our decision not to purchase American alcohol definitely sends a message. It is one of the things that could be on the table in response to these tariffs that are completely unjustified,” he said.
“Using targeted tariffs, using non-tariff responses like refusing to buy American alcohol products, are absolutely on the table,” he said.
Asked if he had the legal authority to ban imports of American alcohol, Eby replied: “We have trade agreements with the Americans, we have to treat their products like our own – but if they’re not going to abide by our trade agreements, then neither are we.”
British Columbia Finance Minister Brenda Bailey followed up on Monday by saying, “everything is on the table” if Trump imposes tariffs, including everything from alcohol to Florida orange juice and Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Bailey added that B.C.’s retaliation would focus on “products that are particularly in red states, where they will have the impact and the potential to influence people within Trump’s own party.”
Eby later added rare earth minerals to his list of retaliation threats and echoed Bailey’s point that B.C. would target American states that voted for Trump as much as possible.
“One of the key advantages we have in this fight is materials that Americans can’t get anywhere else,” he said. One such material is germanium, a mineral that China stopped selling to the United States in December. British Columbia is one of the few alternative sources of the mineral.
Threatening the liquor supply was a step too far for some B.C. business interests, who pointed out that America has individual vineyards larger than the entire B.C. wine industry. Contrary to boasts from Eby and his officials, the province is by no means capable of producing enough alcohol to meet demand, and there are weirdly cumbersome restrictions on Canadian provinces selling spirits to each other, so a ban on American booze would probably mean heavier reliance on expensive European imports.
Liquor store manager Darryl Lamb told CityNews that American imports are “a huge part of our business,” so a ban on those imports could badly compromise B.C. tax revenue.
“There are massive wine sales, American bourbon is on fire, it has never been more popular. We just had our whisky release and people were lining up at 2 in the morning to make sure they could get their hands on these super rare bourbons,” he said.
“I think what we will end up seeing is more cross-border shopping. If Canadians can’t get their favorite American whiskeys or gins, people will end up going down to Washington to buy that stuff,” he cautioned.
“Also, Alberta is not going to ban these bourbons, so British Columbians are just going to go online and order those products in,” he added. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has advocated a more diplomatic approach to dealing with Trump’s tariff threats.
“All that money will leave British Columbia. It won’t even affect the Americans because the sales will just move to Alberta. Their healthcare system, their education system, their infrastructure will all benefit from all of those millions of British Columbian dollars moving over to Alberta because Alberta is not going to ban those products,” Lamb glumly predicted.