Ontario has spent $8 million so far storing U.S. booze as trade war continues

A sign is posted on a wine shelves at an LCBO, the government-run liquor stores where most wine and spirits in the province are purchased, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Toronto. (AP Photo/Jill Colvin)

Ontario’s tab for locking up tens of millions of dollars worth of U.S. alcohol in response to President Donald Trump’s trade war has hit $8 million -- and the province says it has no plans to put those bottles back on the shelves without some kind of resolution.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) told CTV News Toronto that, based on an audit in May, most (97 per cent) of the U.S. product it has in storage remains in good condition and within its normal shelf-life more than a year after it was removed.

However, at least $2.6 million worth of the banned booze had spoiled by the end of March.

“A significant portion of stored U.S. products are made up of wines and spirits which remain suitable for consumption, with spirit products safe to consume up to a decade,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

• READ MORE: Here’s how Doug Ford’s ban on American booze in Ontario has impacted distilleries one year later

U.S. alcohol, including spirits, wine, cider, beer, ready-to-drink coolers and cocktails, as well as non-alcoholic beverages, were stripped from LCBO shelves in March 2025 in retaliation for Trump’s trade dispute.

Not only were products pulled from brick-and-mortar stores across the province, but wholesale customers like bars, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, were also barred from purchasing alcoholic exports from south of the border.

Before the ban, U.S. alcohol sales in Ontario totalled $965 million annually, according to the LCBO. It previously listed more than 3,600 products from 35 U.S. States.

Last week, a Republican congresswoman for New York said she would introduce a bill to compel the U.S. Trade Representative to conduct an investigation into Canadian provinces that are not purchasing its alcohol.

While provinces like Saskatchewan and Alberta have reversed their respective American booze bans, Ontario and Quebec have not.

“Canadian provinces cannot be allowed to hold American wineries, breweries and distilleries hostage and attempt to ransom them,” Claudia Tenney said in a news release issued at the time.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has been adamant that the ban will remain in place until the trade war is over, reacted to the news by pointing the finger back at the U.S. administration.

“U.S. tariffs are threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers, including here in Ontario,” Ford wrote in a tweet.

“We won’t back down. The fastest and only way to get U.S. alcohol back on Ontario shelves is for the U.S. to drop its illegal tariffs on Canada.”

Although the bans are being enforced at a provincial level, Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff urged Ottawa last week to lift the restrictions across the country as he pointed out that the boycott of California wines was causing “devastating harm” to local winegrowers. Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the LCBO told CTV News that over the past year, Ontario VQA wine sales jumped 44 per cent across the board.

“In response to President Trump’s tariffs taking direct aim at our economy, our government directed the LCBO to remove U.S. made alcohol from their shelves,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance told CTV News Toronto on Monday.

“We have been clear - until tariffs are removed, U.S. alcohol will remain off shelves.”

With files from Abigail Bimman, Elianna Lev, and The Canadian Press