{"id":816804,"date":"2026-07-21T17:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/816804\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T17:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T17:45:12","slug":"decision-to-lift-u-s-alcohol-ban-should-be-part-of-broader-deal-carney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/816804\/","title":{"rendered":"Decision to lift U.S. alcohol ban should be part of broader deal, Carney says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An LCBO employee removes American whiskey from the shelves at an LCBO in Toronto in March, 2025. Prime Minister Mark Carney says the decision to ban the sale of U.S alcohol was made in response to U.S. tariffs and ‘threats to our sovereignty.’Laura Proctor\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The decision to put U.S. alcohol back on the shelves in most provinces should be part of an overall agreement with the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday, as Canada faces the threat of 50-per-cent tariffs<\/a> from U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney also said it will be up to the provinces to decide, as premiers meet this week in Prince Edward Island, where the alcohol ban is expected to be the source of heated debate.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that banning the sale of U.S alcohol was done in response to U.S. tariffs and \u201cthreats to our sovereignty,\u201d and is supported by provincial citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to change that first and foremost will be taken by the provinces themselves, each individually, and should only be taken, in my judgement, as part of an overall agreement. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ll work to accomplish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump escalates trade war against Canada with threat to impose 50% tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n

The premiers\u2019 annual summer gathering is happening as the United States is escalating its trade war against Canada. The Trump administration announced Monday that it plans to impose new tariffs on a range of goods in response to Canada curbing imports of U.S. autos, alcohol and dairy. <\/p>\n

A major irritant for the Trump administration has been the decision of most provinces to remove U.S. alcohol from store shelves in response to American tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, which disproportionately hit Canada because of the two countries\u2019 integrated economies.<\/p>\n

One of the orders from the U.S. says Canadian imports of U.S. alcohol dropped by 81 per cent since the bans took effect.<\/p>\n

Several premiers said Tuesday that Ottawa needs to increase efforts to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade deal.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Views about the booze ban are split among the provinces, with Alberta and Saskatchewan allowing the sale of U.S. alcohol, while Ontario and British Columbia have stood firm on the exclusion. Those provinces directed their provincially operated liquor stores to stop purchasing U.S. alcohol in February, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on the shelf in British Columbia,\u201d B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters in Charlottetown on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The idea that the President \u201ccan bully us into whatever he wishes is incorrect,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He added that this is not the time for Canada to capitulate.<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford was expected to speak with reporters later Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Tuesday that he expects the ban will be raised among the Premiers. He said it will be up to the federal government to request that it be lifted — and that it\u2019s his understanding that Ottawa has already made such an ask in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t say I won\u2019t expect that ask to come. I think it\u2019s already been made in some cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Moe said he chose not to ban U.S. alcohol from his province as he didn\u2019t see the benefit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we found in Saskatchewan was there wasn\u2019t going to be an advantage in putting that particular ban in place in our province,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney is set to hold a virtual meeting with the Premiers on Tuesday afternoon to update them on the tariffs. He is scheduled to join the group in PEI later this week.<\/p>\n

PEI Premier Rob Lantz, who is this year\u2019s chair of the premiers\u2019 group known as the Council of the Federation, said he spoke with Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

He said the new tariffs, which are set to take effect on Aug. 19, present Canada with a new opportunity to hammer out a deal with the U.S.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lantz added that it\u2019s \u201cyet to be seen\u201d whether American alcohol will be sold again in PEI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an irritant for the United States, but there\u2019s certainly many irritants for Canadians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: An LCBO employee removes American whiskey from the shelves at an LCBO in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-816804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}