Alberta

Alberta-based liquor businesses prepare to ‘start pivoting’ amid latest U.S. tariff threat

Some business owners calling on Alberta to restrict U.S. imports in retaliation

Alberta-based liquor businesses say they will be impacted if the United States follows through with a threat to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian alcohol products next month, and some are calling for the province to retaliate.

Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces that don't have a ban on U.S. alcohol products.

Adam Smith, the founder and master distiller at Strathcona Spirits in Edmonton, says he thinks Alberta should stop allowing imports of American liquor.

"The government should support Alberta producers by taking action against this action against Alberta producers,” he said. “Do the logical response of restricting U.S. alcohol sales.”

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs on many Canadian products on Monday and they are slated to take effect on Aug. 19. The Trump administration says the move is in response to what it calls “Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American products.”

Smith told CBC News on Tuesday that his business had been preparing to start selling products in the states of Florida and Washington. He said Monday’s announcement affects those plans.

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"They are on hold,” Smith said of his plans to ship his product south. “Not that they might be, they're certainly on hold.”

Bryce Parsons, president of the Alberta Craft Distillers Association and CEO of Calgary-based True Wild Distilling, said the tariffs would limit options for small producers.

He said he’s also rethinking plans to expand into the U.S.

“It really starts wiping out a market — and a big market — that could be quite lucrative for us,” Parsons said in an interview with CBC News Network. “So we have to start pivoting to other places as well and start finding other countries, which eventually takes time and effort there.”

Store owners importing American products may face different challenges.

David Owens, owner of an Edmonton store called Sherbrooke Liquor, said he's become accustomed to the uncertainty surrounding the Canada-U.S. trade relationship. That unpredictability started a year and a half ago.

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"They're off and on and off, on and off, on and off, all the time,” Owens said about the tariff threats. “So until it happens, there's nothing really to worry about as far as I’m concerned.”

Noting the 30-day notice the U.S. is giving before it implements the tariffs on Aug. 19, Owens said he has his doubts about whether they will really take effect.

He said American whisky and bourbon products still sell fairly well and that he currently has stock paid for on shelves to hold him over.

"[But] this whole tariff piece really killed American wine,” Owens said in an interview. “We haven't brought any new American wine in here in over a year because there’s just zero demand for it.

“So I have a lot of dusty bottles that are just money sitting on the shelf.”

At the Canadian premiers’ Council of the Federation meeting in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she hopes diplomacy and the best interests of Canada and the U.S. will prevail as the two countries continue to negotiate.

“I think that what will happen is that we're going to have a pretty intense period over the next 29 days,” she told reporters.

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Also Tuesday, the Alberta government issued a statement saying it’s signed a direct-to-consumer alcohol sales agreement with Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and British Columbia.

It allows Alberta liquor producers to sell beer, wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages directly to more Canadians.

“This is an important step toward breaking down interprovincial trade barriers, but more work can be done,” Alberta’s premier said in the statement.

Natasha Riebe landed at CBC News in Edmonton after radio, TV and print journalism gigs in Halifax, Seoul, Yellowknife and on Vancouver Island. Please send tips in confidence to natasha.riebe@cbc.ca.