By Jordan Fleguel
Updated: July 22, 2025
A display of Ontario wine is pictured at the 100 Queen’s Quay East LCBO outlet in Toronto on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Laura Proctor (The Canadian Press)
As trade tensions simmer between Ottawa and Washington, ‘Buy Canada’ sentiment has taken off across the country, and new data suggests Canadian wine and beer producers are reaping the benefits.
A report published last month from data research consultancy firm CGA, powered by consumer intelligence company NIQ, found that 37 per cent of respondents in a May survey said they purchased an alcoholic drink at a bar or restaurant in the past month from a Canadian brand they hadn’t tried before.
The most common reason given for the increase was to support local, according to the report, which included survey responses from individuals in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
The report found that 28 per cent of beer drinkers reported consuming more craft beer since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration first imposed tariffs on Canadian products. Among them, 46 per cent said they did so to support local or Canadian brands.
When it comes to wine drinkers, 51 per cent reported drinking more Canadian wine than before tariffs were introduced. Overall, 57 per cent of wine consumers reported having tried a Canadian wine brand at a restaurant or bar at some point in 2025.
Survey participants were also asked what they’d like to see more of in national bar and restaurant chains, and the second most common response was the increased availability of Canadian beer, wine and spirits.
The consumer shift towards local and Canadian alcohol comes at the same time American products are less readily available in Canada.
Provinces across the country pulled American beer, wine and spirits from liquor store shelves earlier this year in response to Trump’s tariffs.
While some provinces have since rescinded that action, others including Ontario, whose liquor control board is one of the largest alcohol purchasers in the world, have not.
Methodology
CGA by NIQ surveyed 1,200 LDA On Premise consumers across four key provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec).
Consumers had to have visited the On Premise in the past 3 months and be aged 19+. An equal number of respondents were collected from each province with each nationally representative on gender and age. Fieldwork was undertaken 2025/05/28 to 2025/05/30.
Jordan Fleguel
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca
As trade tensions simmer between Ottawa and Washington, ‘Buy Canada’ sentiment has taken off across the country, and new data suggests Canadian wine and beer producers are reaping the benefits.
A report published last month from data research consultancy firm CGA, powered by consumer intelligence company NIQ, found that 37 per cent of respondents in a May survey said they purchased an alcoholic drink at a bar or restaurant in the past month from a Canadian brand they hadn’t tried before.
The most common reason given for the increase was to support local, according to the report, which included survey responses from individuals in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
The report found that 28 per cent of beer drinkers reported consuming more craft beer since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration first imposed tariffs on Canadian products. Among them, 46 per cent said they did so to support local or Canadian brands.
When it comes to wine drinkers, 51 per cent reported drinking more Canadian wine than before tariffs were introduced. Overall, 57 per cent of wine consumers reported having tried a Canadian wine brand at a restaurant or bar at some point in 2025.
Survey participants were also asked what they’d like to see more of in national bar and restaurant chains, and the second most common response was the increased availability of Canadian beer, wine and spirits.
The consumer shift towards local and Canadian alcohol comes at the same time American products are less readily available in Canada.
Provinces across the country pulled American beer, wine and spirits from liquor store shelves earlier this year in response to Trump’s tariffs.
While some provinces have since rescinded that action, others including Ontario, whose liquor control board is one of the largest alcohol purchasers in the world, have not.
Methodology
CGA by NIQ surveyed 1,200 LDA On Premise consumers across four key provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec).
Consumers had to have visited the On Premise in the past 3 months and be aged 19+. An equal number of respondents were collected from each province with each nationally representative on gender and age. Fieldwork was undertaken 2025/05/28 to 2025/05/30.
Jordan Fleguel
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca
Canadian boycott of U.S. spirits hurts broader alcohol sales, trade group says
By Reuters
July 22, 2025
By Reuters
July 22, 2025
Wine produced in the United States is removed from the shelves of an LCBO store in Toronto on Tuesday March 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Canadian provinces’ boycott of U.S. spirits amid a trade dispute with the United States has caused a sharp drop in sales of American imports, as well as other imported and domestic spirits across the nation, a Canadian liquor trade group said on Tuesday.
Sales of U.S. spirits in Canada dropped 66.3% between March 5, when provinces announced they would stop carrying the products in retail stores, and the end of April, according to an analysis by Spirits Canada.
The group, which represents Canadian manufacturers and marketers of distilled spirits, said total spirits sales in Canada fell 12.8% during the same period.
“The North American spirits sector is highly interconnected, and the immediate and continued removal of all U.S. spirits products from Canadian shelves is deeply problematic for spirits producers on both sides of the border,” said Cal Bricker, president and CEO of Spirits Canada.
Several Canadian provinces pulled U.S. spirits from liquor stores in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on certain imports.
Most recently, Trump’s threat to impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting August 1 has raised concerns about an escalating trade war and spurred a “Buy Canadian” movement among consumers and businesses.
In early March, Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman Corp. called the removal of American bourbon and whiskey from Canadian liquor stores worse than Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and described it as a disproportionate response to Trump’s levies.
According to Spirits Canada, sales of U.S. spirits in Ontario, Canada’s largest market for spirits, plunged 80% after the products were removed from shelves. Two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have since resumed selling U.S. spirits, the group said.
The decision to pull U.S. spirits has hurt American distillers, as well as Canadian revenues, consumers and hospitality businesses, Spirits Canada added.
Currently, U.S. tariffs are suspended on imports from Canada that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Spirits produced in Canada fall under this trade pact.
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
Canadian provinces’ boycott of U.S. spirits amid a trade dispute with the United States has caused a sharp drop in sales of American imports, as well as other imported and domestic spirits across the nation, a Canadian liquor trade group said on Tuesday.
Sales of U.S. spirits in Canada dropped 66.3% between March 5, when provinces announced they would stop carrying the products in retail stores, and the end of April, according to an analysis by Spirits Canada.
The group, which represents Canadian manufacturers and marketers of distilled spirits, said total spirits sales in Canada fell 12.8% during the same period.
“The North American spirits sector is highly interconnected, and the immediate and continued removal of all U.S. spirits products from Canadian shelves is deeply problematic for spirits producers on both sides of the border,” said Cal Bricker, president and CEO of Spirits Canada.
Several Canadian provinces pulled U.S. spirits from liquor stores in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff on certain imports.
Most recently, Trump’s threat to impose a 35% tariff on Canadian goods starting August 1 has raised concerns about an escalating trade war and spurred a “Buy Canadian” movement among consumers and businesses.
In early March, Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman Corp. called the removal of American bourbon and whiskey from Canadian liquor stores worse than Canada’s retaliatory tariffs and described it as a disproportionate response to Trump’s levies.
According to Spirits Canada, sales of U.S. spirits in Ontario, Canada’s largest market for spirits, plunged 80% after the products were removed from shelves. Two provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have since resumed selling U.S. spirits, the group said.
The decision to pull U.S. spirits has hurt American distillers, as well as Canadian revenues, consumers and hospitality businesses, Spirits Canada added.
Currently, U.S. tariffs are suspended on imports from Canada that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Spirits produced in Canada fall under this trade pact.
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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