The

Liquor Control Board of Ontario

(LCBO) will keep American alcohol off its shelves until the U.S. removes its

tariffs

on Canadian goods or there’s a new

trade deal

, Ontario Premier

Doug Ford

said.

The province’s booze retailer is one of the world’s biggest alcohol purchasers. It sold more than 3,600 products from 35 U.S. states before announcing in March that it would halt the purchase and sale of U.S. products in response to the tariffs imposed by President

Donald Trump

.

“Oh, it’s still going to be banned until they cut the tariffs or we make a deal with them,” Ford told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “It’s not coming on our shelves.”

Prime Minister

Mark Carney

announced last week that Canada will remove retaliatory tariffs on many incoming American goods, effective Sept. 1, as part of an effort to restart stalled trade talks with the U.S.

Ford said that if there’s another Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (

CUSMA

) deal or the U.S. rescinds its tariffs, Ontario will bring American alcoholic drinks back into the LCBO.

He said, however, that he doesn’t think a deal is going to happen in the next few months.

“You never know, with President Trump. He can pull the carpet out from underneath us in a heartbeat, like he has before,” the premier said.

“If they don’t (remove the tariffs), then they aren’t getting any booze on our shelves,” he added.

Earlier this year, Ontario, along with provinces such as British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, announced their provincial liquor authorities would stop stocking and selling some or all U.S.-produced alcohol until Trump’s tariffs were dropped.

Alberta and Saskatchewan have since put U.S. spirits back on their shelves.

Ford said that since removing U.S. booze from provincial shelves, Ontario wine sales have gone up more than 67 per cent.

Last week

, Canadian producer and importer Corby Spirit and Wine Ltd. said it has benefited from those provincial trade measures by boosting revenues for its Canadian brands in its fourth-quarter earnings.

“Our success today reflected our proudly Canadian sales execution, with our commission and local brands gaining share on U.S.-origin spirits being removed from shelves across most provinces since March,” Corby chief executive Nicolas Krantz said last Thursday.

The CEO said the shift away from U.S. brands in Canada created an opportunity for the Toronto-based company and its spirits, wines and ready-to-drink cocktails.

In the three months that followed the ban, Ontario- and Canadian-made alcohol sales were up 19 per cent at the LCBO, the Canadian Press reported, citing figures provided by the Ontario finance minister.

On Monday, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group representing producers and marketers of distilled spirits sold in the U.S., welcomed Prime Minister Carney’s decision to remove 25 per cent countertariffs on American alcohol.

“This is a very positive sign, but until all provinces put American spirits back on their shelves it won’t have much of an impact,” the group’s president, Chris Swonger, said in a press release.

The group said Canada was the second-largest export market for U.S. spirits in 2024.

“The unfortunate decision to remove American spirits from Canadian retail shelves is not only harming U.S. distillers, but it’s also needlessly reducing revenues for the provinces, and placing unnecessary burdens on Canadian consumers and hospitality businesses,” Swonger said.

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Ford said the LCBO still has a few months before some American booze removed from its shelves expires, and there are no plans yet to dump them.

• Email: dpaglinawan@postmedia.com