Quebec prepares to pour $300,000 worth of US booze down the drain as tariff battle spirals

Quebec’s state-run liquor agency is preparing to destroy about $300,000 worth of American-made alcohol after a months-long provincial ban left the products sitting unsold in warehouses. The move highlights the ongoing fallout from Canada’s escalating trade dispute with the United States.

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) confirmed that the at-risk inventory consists mainly of rosé and boxed wines, ready-to-drink cocktails, certain beers, and liqueurs, beverages with short shelf lives that cannot withstand long-term storage. While the write-off represents just 1 percent of the $27 million in US stock the agency has warehoused, it underscores how the boycott is reshaping Canada’s alcohol market.

How the boycott began

Quebec ordered the SAQ on March 4, 2025, to pull all American products from store shelves after US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed steep tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and agricultural goods. Premier François Legault declared at the time:

Other provinces quickly followed:

• Ontario’s LCBO halted purchases of all American alcohol.
  
• British Columbia took a more political stance, banning alcohol sourced from Republican-voting “red states.”
  
• Alberta initially joined the boycott but later softened its approach, resuming purchases of US liquor in June while adding Ottawa’s 25 percent surtax on new imports.
  

At the federal level, Ottawa formalized the countermeasures through the United States Surtax Order (2025-1), which included a wide range of US products, alcohol among them.

Industry impact

The boycott has already upended trade flows. Data from Spirits Canada shows that between March 5 and the end of April, sales of US spirits in Canada plunged 66.3 percent, while overall spirits sales fell 12.8 percent nationwide. In Ontario alone, sales of American spirits dropped by roughly 80 percent during that period.

For American producers, the shelf removals sting more than tariffs. Lawson Whiting, CEO of Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman, told investors that removing US liquor from Canadian shelves is “worse than a tariff” because it eliminates visibility and access to consumers.

What happens in Quebec

For now, Quebec consumers won’t notice additional shortages; most US products disappeared from SAQ outlets months ago. The looming destruction relates to stock purchased before March 4 that cannot survive long-term storage. Unless the provincial government revises its guidance, the SAQ says it has no choice but to dispose of the soon-to-expire inventory.

The fate of the remaining $27 million worth of American alcohol warehoused in Quebec depends on whether the federal government and Washington can de-escalate the dispute or whether Premier Legault relaxes his directive.