{"id":285004,"date":"2026-02-07T03:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285004\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T03:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T03:20:14","slug":"why-canadian-beer-cans-are-almost-impossible-as-tariffs-near-1-year-mark-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285004\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Canadian beer cans are \u2018almost impossible\u2019 as tariffs near 1-year mark – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Ottawa-based Dominion City Brewing put out a call to breweries across the country last year to collaborate on a beer<\/a> made with \u201c100 per cent Canadian ingredients,\u201d there was at least one component they knew they\u2019d need to import from south of the border \u2014 the can itself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe brewed an all-Canadian beer \u2014 all Canadian, but for the aluminum can, which we could not source in Canada,\u201d Dominion City co-founder Josh McJannet said in an interview with Global News.<\/p>\n

As Canada pivots away from U.S.-reliant supply chains and as consumers double down on the \u201cBuy Canadian\u201d sentiment, McJannet says a lot of Canadians might not realize it\u2019s \u201cnearly impossible\u201d to find certain kinds of aluminum beer cans made here at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 473-millilitre tall can is the standard for beer, and particularly independent beer in Ontario,\u201d McJannet said. \u201cWhat a lot of people probably don\u2019t know is that there\u2019s actually no Canadian source for a truly Canadian-made tall can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s one example of how costs add up for consumers as U.S. tariffs approach the one-year mark next month on aluminum and steel products, and despite efforts such as those from McJannet\u2019s brewery to connect and support domestic producers across the industry.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump\u00a0announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum<\/a> on Feb. 13, 2025, then increased those to 50 per cent days before they came into effect on March 13, 2025.<\/a><\/p>\n

McJannet says since then, the cost per unit of procuring a can has jumped from around 15 cents to around 35 cents per unit for his business.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

The last year has seen Canadian breweries grapple with cost increases, which translates into higher costs for consumers, said Richard Alexander, president of Beer Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest factor is the Trump tariffs<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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While most goods traded between Canada and the U.S. are exempt from U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, aluminum faces a steep 25 per cent duty.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know of one brewery where their aluminum costs have increased 60 per cent. It\u2019s having a serious impact on the brewing industry,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhy aren’t the cans made in Canada?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

McJannet\u2019s brewery in Ottawa\u2019s east end is only a few hundred metres from the border with Quebec, the province that is the source of 60 per cent of all of North America\u2019s aluminum production.<\/p>\n

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But while domestic beer is often locally produced and consumed, Canada and the United States have had a deeply integrated beer-making industry over the last few decades \u2013 much like the broader economy.<\/p>\n

Smelted aluminum crosses the border several times before it makes it to the shelves of your liquor store and into your hands, Alexander said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aluminum is smelted in Canada, goes across the border into the U.S., gets manufactured into a can sheet, and then it comes back to Canada to be made into cans,\u201d Alexander said.<\/p>\n

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The beer industry\u2019s supply chain and market are largely domestic \u2014 with Canadian grain being used to make beer for Canadian consumers \u2014 but it needs the U.S. aluminum processing industry for packaging.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are things that Canadians can do more cost-effectively than Americans and vice versa. In Canada, we can smelt aluminum because of the hydroelectric power that we have in Quebec and the Americans have a larger market that they can sell can sheet to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tCould Canada have a domestic can supply chain?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While many in the beer industry would prefer an entirely domestic supply chain, Alexander said it may be hard to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manufacturing of can sheet is a very, very expensive process. The investments to create that kind of a manufacturing facility in Canada, with just a domestic market, it wouldn\u2019t make economic sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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While some brewers may package beer in glass bottles, Alexander said around 80 per cent of Canada\u2019s beer is packaged in aluminum cans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s less breakage. They\u2019re lighter, so that lowers transportation costs. It protects the product from light much more than bottles. Beer is a product that needs to be fresh, so cans help keep the product fresh more than bottles.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Canada, the United States and Mexico are expected to head back to the drawing board as the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) Free Trade Agreement comes up for review.<\/p>\n

McJannet hopes the leaders of the three countries will be able to secure a stable trade deal.<\/p>\n

However, he said the beer industry is preparing for an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t expect things to snap back into place. That language around this being a rupture, not a transition \u2013 I think we\u2019re feeling that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Ottawa-based Dominion City Brewing put out a call to breweries across the country last year to collaborate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[24796,72,289,1312,3156,113,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-285004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-beer","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-consumer","12":"tag-donald-trump-tariffs","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}