{"id":862207,"date":"2026-09-27T07:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T07:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/862207\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T07:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T07:22:14","slug":"how-trumps-trade-war-with-canada-is-squeezing-a-farm-cidery-in-albany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/862207\/","title":{"rendered":"How Trump’s trade war with Canada is squeezing a farm cidery in Albany"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war with Canada has disrupted billions of dollars in economic activity, affecting everything from automobiles to Crown Royal whiskey. And the tariffs are even complicating business at New York’s first farm cidery.<\/p>\n

Nine Pin Ciderworks in North Albany uses 3.3 million pounds of apples each year to make around 150,000 gallons of cider. Almost all of the apples come from an orchard in Kinderhook, about 21 miles away.<\/p>\n

The problem is that most people drink Nine Pin\u2019s ciders in cans \u2014 around 2.4 million cans each year. And while those cans are manufactured by Ball Co. in Saratoga, about 25 miles away, they\u2019re made from imported aluminum sheets.<\/p>\n

Nine Pin co-founder Sonya del Peral said that a local business relying on a nearby harvest should be insulated from the trade war. But it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like that’s some global thing, and it is, but the aluminum sheets that Ball uses to make the cans come from Canada,\u201d Nine Pin cofounder Sonya del Peral said. \u201cOtherwise, we’re such a hyperlocal business.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than $21.1 billion of goods go from Canada into New York each year, including $1.1 billion of aluminum goods, according to the Canadian government.<\/a> Trump imposed a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum imports starting last year.<\/p>\n

The Republican president said he wanted to increase domestic production of the metals as a national security measure.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur steel and aluminum industries are coming back like never before,\u201d Trump wrote on social media<\/a> in May of last year. \u201cThis will be yet another BIG jolt of great news for our wonderful steel and aluminum workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garry Douglas, the longtime president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh, said he\u2019s skeptical that will happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find bauxite, and you\u2019ve got to mine it, and you\u2019ve got to produce raw aluminum,\u201d he said, adding that would take years. \u201cWhen is the last time you saw it easy to start a new mining operation anywhere in the U.S. for anything? Canada is much more conducive to mining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Peral said her canning costs increased by 30% due to the tariffs. That\u2019s put a strain on her profit margin and forced her to increase a credit line with her bank. The added costs make it more difficult to think about expansion or other major business decisions.<\/p>\n

Douglas said lots of businesses feel that way. He called the tariffs a tax, and said they\u2019ve added uncertainty and sourness to what is normally an extremely friendly relationship with firms north of the border.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday said she\u2019s introduced legislation to repeal the Canadian tariffs. Trade talks between Canada and the United States collapsed in August. Canada then began talks to become an \u201cassociate member\u201d of the European Union.<\/p>\n

Trump responded with bans on the importation of Canadian beer, motorcycles and dairy products. He also decreed that Lake Ontario, which borders Upstate New York, should now be called Lake America. The import bans are set to take effect on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCosts could continue to go up if President Trump escalates this trade war,\u201d said Gillibrand, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

So far Nine Pin hasn\u2019t increased the prices for its various ciders, most of which contain alcohol. A four-pack of the company\u2019s flagship blend still goes for $12, but del Peral isn\u2019t sure how long she can hold out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re gun-shy about raising the prices because, you know, we understand right now that consumers are being very, very careful with their choices. And we don’t want to lose customers,\u201d she said. \u201cAt a certain point, it’s not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war with Canada has disrupted billions of dollars in economic activity, affecting everything from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28],"class_list":["post-862207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}