The U.S. ban on Canadian alcohol has come into effect, and many Quebec alcohol producers are now shut out of the American market. For the last few months, Geloso Group in Laval has been working around the clock to ramp up production so it could get as much of its product over the border as possible before the ban came into force. It manufactures ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages, including popular brands such as Poppers, Petito Sangria, and Bulles de Nuit. “We had trucks here being shipped every single day,” said Nathalie Paré, vice-president of corporate strategy . “We went from 15 trucks a day to about 40, to ensure that we stocked up our warehouses in the U.S.” The impact on business could be significant because 80 per cent of Geloso Group’s production is exported to 49 U.S. states. Paré says the company was already contending with 50 per cent tariffs over the last month, operating at a loss for the time being. “The alcohol industry is one that is extremely competitive and if you leave a space empty, someone will take it,” said Paré. “So we chose to protect what we have built.” The company is also responding to the ban with a series of cheeky billboard ads displayed along major Quebec highways. They show images of its beer brand La Bittt à Tibi and the phrase, “Proudly banned in the U.S.A.” “You know what, we’re resilient and we’re going to get through this,” said Paré. While the billboards could be seen as poking the bear, Paré hopes the U.S. president will see the ads for what they are. “At the end of the day, he’s a businessman. He would defend his own interest as well if he was in our position. And, you know, it’s sad to say, but he has won part of his battle. So that’s the way he should look at it, because we would never have otherwise transferred our production to the U.S.” The ban on Canadian booze and several other products is the latest measure from the Donald Trump administration following the breakdown of trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. The head of the AMBQ, which represents the province’s microbreweries, says only some of its members will feel the impact of the ban, while most continue to grapple with the effects of the ongoing trade war. “The U.S. market accounts for only a small portion of our industry’s revenues,” said Isabelle Charbonneau, chair of the AMBQ’s board of directors. “Quebec remains, by far, our most important market. That said, microbreweries have already been feeling the effects of the tariff dispute for more than a year, particularly through rising costs for paper, cardboard packaging, aluminum cans, fuel and other inputs.” Some producers have already begun shifting business toward other markets, such as Europe. Geloso Group is pivoting, too. It has arranged for some U.S.-based manufacturers to take on parts of its production, though the move is not without concern. “To transfer production to a third party, you have to be mindful of your trade secrets,” said Paré. “So all this intellectual property, we are working very, very diligently to protect what is ours.” It is also working to expand its sales to other Canadian provinces and will continue to run its billboard ads through mid-October. In the meantime, the AMBQ would like to see Quebecers show their support with their wallets. “If consumers once again rally behind locally brewed products and support their local microbreweries, as they did at the beginning of this tariff dispute, Quebec’s microbreweries will be able to weather this challenge and emerge stronger.”
