{"id":892390,"date":"2026-09-12T00:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892390\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T00:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:46:11","slug":"niagara-ice-wine-producer-says-u-s-buyers-are-flabbergasted-by-trumps-canadian-booze-ban-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892390\/","title":{"rendered":"Niagara ice wine producer says U.S. buyers are ‘flabbergasted’ by Trump’s Canadian booze ban order"},"content":{"rendered":"

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U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a ban Canadian booze, but for one Niagara winery his tariffs have already killed the possibility of selling to Americans. <\/p>\n

“There’s no product in the world that could compete in a marketplace with a tariff that high,” Jamie Slingerland, director of viticulture for Pillitteri Estates Winery said, pointing to the 50-per-cent tariff<\/a> imposed as of Aug. 22<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His Niagara-on-the-Lake,-Ont. company has five main buyers in the U.S., who love their “very Canadian” product. Those buyers, he says, are “flabbergasted.” <\/p>\n

Trump signed five proclamations on Tuesday, banning import of <\/a> alcoholic drinks and other goods as of Sept 29., and adding 50 per cent tariffs to others such as whey, molasses, furniture, and paper and wood products.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The move comes after twenty months of escalating trade action<\/a> between Canada and the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Winery shipped early to beat latest tariffs<\/p>\n

Niagara’s prominent wine industry is among those that will be affected by the alcohol import ban, which also targets beer, cider, whiskies, vodka and other spirits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pillitteri specializes in ice wine, which accounts for more than half of its wine sales, Slingerland said. The winery usually ships around 200,000 bottles of it to the U.S., representing about 17 per cent of overall sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We like to look at ourselves as the world’s largest exporter of ice wine in the world,” Slingerland said, adding the product is a Niagara specialty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Niagara Falls Tourism says the region is a top ice wine producer thanks to cold winters and a long growing season allowing for the production of the sweet beverage, made using grapes harvested in winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Knowing tariffs were coming, Slingerland said, the winery pivoted. Instead of preparing wine to export in the fall before the holiday shopping season, Pillitteri accelerated its schedule and exported four months early. Slingerland said their buyers are keeping the product in storage until closer to Christmas.<\/p>\n

He said the family-owned winery was able to act quickly in part because it’s smaller and independent. Other wineries, he said, likely do not have that option.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re not laying anybody off. We’re not reducing production. We’re pushing ahead,” Slingerland said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | B.C. wine industry calls on Canadians to support local producers:\"\"<\/p>\n

U.S. alcohol ban sets \u2018dangerous precedent,\u2019 B.C. wine industry warns | Hanomansing Tonight<\/p>\n

The U.S. is set to ban imports of most Canadian alcohol starting Sept. 29 as the trade war with Canada escalates. Wine Growers B.C. president and CEO Jeff Guignard calls the move ‘unprecedented and deeply frustrating’ and says Canadian consumers should support domestic producers.Ontario wineries support about 22,000 jobs: industry association<\/p>\n

There are 186 wineries in Ontario which generate about $711 million in revenue and support about 22,000 jobs, according to industry association Grape Growers of Ontario.<\/p>\n

The association website says its industry generates an economic impact of $5.49 billion for the province, including through taxes, tourism and suppliers, per a 2019 study by Wine Growers Ontario.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grape Growers has said it recommends businesses impacted by trade disruptions look into federal support programs<\/a> such as the Government of Canada’s Regional Tariff Response Initiative.<\/p>\n

John Boynton is the president of Arterra Wines, which owns wineries including Jackson-Triggs and Inniskillin, and retail chain Wine Rack. He told CBC his team is “disappointed” by the import ban.<\/p>\n

“More than anything, businesses need stability and predictability to plan, invest and grow, and unfortunately the level of uncertainty facing our industry continues to increase rather than decrease,” he said in an emailed statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alcohol products have been used as leverage on both sides of the border, Boynton said, creating challenges for businesses, workers and customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said it’s too early to determine the full impact of Trump’s new ban but in the meantime, his company will focus on “supporting our customers and partners while we assess the implications of this latest measure.”<\/p>\n

Slingerland and Boynton both called on the federal government to renew its Wine Sector Support program, which is set to end March 31, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBC Hamilton asked Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada if the government is planning to do so, or considering renewal.\u00a0It did not respond before deadline. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-892390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892390","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=892390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}