Ottawa breweries brace for higher costs due to tariffs

Local breweries are being forced to navigate Trump’s tariff on aluminum, likely forcing a price hike for consumers. CTV’s Dave Charbonneau reports.

Canadian breweries are bracing for higher costs as tariffs threaten to push up the price of cans and send the cost of beer surging.

Whiprsnapr Brewery in Bells Corners says it has been planning ahead to avoid tariffs as long as possible.

“We’ve been trying to buy ahead a little bit and be more ready in advance of what was being threatened,” said owner Ian McMartin.

McMartin says the tariffs are just another cost increase on an already long list.

“Everything’s gone up remarkably since Covid, since the pandemic. The price of labour has gone up, price of materials has gone up, the cans, taxes have gone up,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports in March. Trump later said he would double the rate to 50 per cent.

Down the street at Kichesippi Brewery, owner Paul Meek is seeing the price of cans rise but says it’s not significant yet.

“The price of cans is going up. That’s a cost that we have to incur in the short term,” said Meek.

“A beer could go up maybe five, maybe ten cents. It’s not a massive thing, but because we’re in a market economy, there are going to be other companies that have bigger buying power, have bigger holding power that they may be able to hold off on their increases for six months to a year. We’re not in that position.”

Ontario Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy recently announced a $1 billion emergency loan program to help protect jobs in the auto, aluminum and steel industries. Those sectors are currently not protected by the current free trade agreement with the U.S.

“These will be loans from anywhere between $250,000 to $40 million. Think about it as providing a bridging a liquidity to stay in business. It will keep workers on the job so that it gives them an opportunity to pivot to the new world,” Bethlenfalvy said.

One food economist says how much you pay could depend on the value of the can compared to what’s inside it.

“If it’s a beer can, it might be a relatively small proportion of the total value of the product. If it is a can of beans, as an example, or a can of tomatoes, the can might be a bigger chunk of the cost of that product. You’ll see a bigger change in that, a bigger percentage change in that price,” said Mike von Massow, food economist at the University of Guelph.

Whiprsnapr Brewery says their smaller operation might be working in their favour.

“We’re not doing as many cans and other people, so it might not be impacting us as much,” McMartin said.

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