Empty shelves at B.C. liquor stores as American booze pulled in response to tariffs

A shelf at a Vancouver liquor store is shown on Feb. 2, 2025.

Shelves that held bottles of Kentucky bourbon, Jack Daniels whiskey and Bacardi rum are sitting empty at government-run liquor stores in B.C. Sunday – where bottles of booze have been replaced with signs saying, ‘Buy Canadian Instead.’

The move follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order that imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods.

Premier David Eby, in response, pledged to pull American liquor from “red states” off the shelves and said provincial stores will stop purchasing it. The premiers of Ontario and Quebec are removing all U.S. alcohol products.

On Sunday, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, who’s chairing a cabinet committee co-ordinating provincial response to the tariffs, told reporters Republican states are being targeted because they believe Trump “doesn’t care” about Democrat-led states. He also suggested the president’s initial concerns about fentanyl crossing the border aren’t the true motivation behind the tariffs, and his recent social media post about averting tariffs by becoming “the 51st state” is telling.

“I never in my life imagined we’d be in this moment where a president of the United States would be purposely trying to create an opportunity to essentially annex the Canadian government,” said Kahlon. “This was always about causing economic harm, it was always about a new model for growing manufacturing in the United States, and it was always about trying to find ways to pay for tax cuts that he wanted to deliver to businesses in the U.S.”

Private liquor stores, bars and pubs respond

While government liquor stores have pulled American products, the experience may vary among private liquor stores, as well as pubs and bars.

According to the Alliance of Beverage Licensees, some establishments may choose to go through their existing inventory – while there’s an expectation some will simply pull American products out of principle or due to pressure from customers.

“Those are all individual small business owners and they’re, like most Canadians, are trying to figure out the right thing to do,” the organization’s executive director Jeff Guignard told CTV News on Sunday. “And they’ll figure that out with their customers. If customers and come in, and say, ‘we want you to ban imports of U.S. products,’ they’ll probably comply with that and support what our customers are doing.

“In the interim, they’ve paid money for that inventory. They’re probably going to try and sell it through, and they won’t be ordering much more.”

Guignard noted that he still expects to see some U.S. products continue to be provided, such as wines from California and other “blue” states.

Eby’s three-pronged strategy

The premier said B.C. would be mounting a three-pronged response to Trump’s “declaration of economic war.”

First, he said, is retaliation – with the move to halt liquor sales and purchases as the opening salvo. Eby has also directed provincial Crown corporations – such as BC Hydro, ICBC and health authorities – to “immediately stop buying American goods and services, and buy Canadian.”

In addition to supporting the federal government on retaliatory tariffs, the B.C. government will look to make the provincial economy “stronger and more self-sufficient,” Eby said.

Finally, Eby also talked about embarking on new trade missions overseas, as well as working with leaders across Canada to reduce trade barriers within the country.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad issued his own response to the tariffs, penning a letter to Eby as well as what he bills as a 10-point plan to respond. One of Rustad’s demands is an immediate move to call back the legislature, which has not met since Eby’s NDP was re-elected with a bare majority after a nail-biting race last year.

Kahlon believes Trump and his administration miscalculated the reaction to the tariffs, and the strong demand for Canadian goods in supermarkets is proof of that.

“I think, for some people in the U.S., perhaps to Donald Trump, they took our kindness for weakness, and we do love our American cousins,” he said. “But we will not stand by for this type of action to be taken and we will respond every single time that they take an action, we will respond in kind.”

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ian Holliday