Wine is restocked at Metrovino Fine Wines in Calgary, after the Alberta government said on June 6 that it would resume purchasing U.S. alcohol.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
American wine has nearly stopped flowing into Canada because of widespread import bans on alcoholic drinks produced in the United States, part of a showy but forceful protest of the Trump administration’s tariff policies.
In April, Canada imported just $2.9-million of American wine – a decline of 94 per cent from a monthly average of $49.2-million last year, according to recently published Statistics Canada figures.
American trade data show that shipments to many other countries have tumbled this year, although not to the extent of Canada, the U.S.’s largest export market for wine.
Soon after the White House imposed tariffs on Canada in early March, provincial and territorial leaders moved to ban the import of alcoholic beverages from the U.S. – in some cases, removing those products immediately from shelves.
The boycott weakened on Friday, when Alberta said it would resume purchasing U.S. alcohol, with Saskatchewan following suit on Monday. The premiers of Ontario and Nova Scotia, meanwhile, said this week that they aren’t backing down from their restrictions.
The various bans have sent a jolt through Canada’s multibillion-dollar business of wine importation, forcing companies to make emergency orders of Australian and Argentinian reds to fill an American-sized hole in their revenues.
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And even if restrictions are eased, industry leaders say it’s possible that Canadians will take up the protest, forgoing purchases of cabernet sauvignons from California.
“We don’t see consumers flocking back to U.S. wine,” said Richard Dittmar, president and chief executive officer of Vancouver-based Trialto Wine Group, which imports in Western Canada.
While there was effectively a nationwide embargo on U.S. alcohol imports for much of this spring, the rules governing sales and distribution have varied by province.
For example, while American-made wine, beer and spirits aren’t sold at government liquor retailers in British Columbia, private retailers in the province can continue selling those products – albeit from dwindling inventories.
Darryl Lamb, brand manager for Legacy Liquor Store in Vancouver, said he typically sells around 10 to 15 cases of Manischewitz kosher wine in the run-up to Passover. But this year, he sold five or six times as many cases.
It “basically drove all of the Jewish community to search for private stores,” Mr. Lamb said.
The rules in Ontario, however, are more stringent. For instance, inventories of U.S. wine are collecting dust in Liquor Control Board of Ontario warehouses. This has made life difficult for the province’s importers, also known as agents, who act as intermediaries between foreign wineries and buyers, including restaurants.
The American wine section at Metrovino Fine Wines. Rules governing U.S. wine sales and imports vary by province, with B.C. and Alberta allowing private retailers to continue selling American wine, beer and spirits throughout the trade war.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
Harris Davidson, managing director at Rogers & Company in Toronto, said roughly $1-million of American wines he imported are stuck in storage and unable to be sold. Because of his company’s exposure to the U.S. market, he’s had to lay off employees and give up office space.
“I support a very strong response to the United States, but singling out and penalizing one industry in this way is not allowing Canadians to choose how they want to express their dissatisfaction with the U.S., and it’s crushing a very specific sector,” Mr. Davidson said.
Importers are naturally trying to source more wine from other parts of the world, although there are no quick fixes. It can take three to five months for orders from Europe, South America and elsewhere to reach Canada.
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In early March, Mr. Dittmar, the importer in Vancouver, made rush orders with wineries in Australia and Argentina.
“April and May is kind of like waiting for the stock to get here,” he said. “June, things are going to start to arrive, and we’ll have more product to fill that demand for U.S. substitutes.”
It appears that many importers were diversifying to start the year.
Excluding the United States, Canada imported $755-million of wine during the first four months of 2025, an increase of 12.5 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
Imports from New Zealand and Australia have jumped by 31 per cent and 28 per cent. Shipments from France and Italy – Canada’s top two import sources, with the U.S. third – have risen by 13.6 per cent and 7.6 per cent, according to Statscan.
American exports, by contrast, are slumping. U.S. government data show that total wine exports have fallen nearly 50 per cent over the first four months of the year, relative to the same period in 2024.
Orley Ashenfelter, president of the American Association of Wine Economists, said the primary threat to U.S. wineries is not the loss of exports, but a long-term decline in per capita consumption, because U.S. production largely serves the domestic market.
“Anybody who borrowed money to put in a vineyard is probably going to have problems with their bank,” he said.
Canada’s importers said American wineries have expressed shame and anger over the White House’s aggressive trade tactics and the blowback it’s caused in their industry.
“None of them are very happy about it, because they’re generally from Democratic states,” Mr. Dittmar said. “They’re pissed off that this has happened.”