Republican bill targets Canada’s provincial booze bans

A Republican lawmaker in Washington is firing back at Canadian provinces for retaliating against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs by banning the sale of U.S. alcohol. 

Claudia Tenney, a member of the House of Representatives whose district includes parts of northern New York, has introduced a bill aimed at punishing Canada over restrictions on U.S. alcohol imports imposed by eight provincial governments.

She calls her bill the Combating Attacks on our National Alcoholic Drinks by Allies Act, or the CANADA Act. 

“Canadian provinces cannot be allowed to hold American wineries, breweries, and distilleries hostage and attempt to ransom them,” Tenney said Monday in a statement on her website.

“American wineries, breweries, distilleries, and other beverage producers deserve fair access to Canadian markets, not discriminatory treatment from one of our closest trading partners,” Tenney said. 

Tenney’s statement does not mention what prompted the provinces’ alleged “discriminatory treatment” of U.S. alcohol: the hefty tariffs Trump imposed on many Canadian exports and his frequent threats to make Canada the 51st state. 

U.S. exports of wine, beer and spirits to Canada plummeted in early 2025 as a result of the provincial retaliation.  

The U.S. wine industry has called the collapse “catastrophic” and recently published figures showing the value of its exports to Canada went from $460 million US in 2024 to $103 million US in 2025, a drop of 78 per cent. 

Wineries ‘hurt’ from Oregon to New York

WineAmerica, the national association of U.S. wineries, is backing Tenney’s legislation. 

“Losing the Canadian market for our products has hurt wineries from Willamette Valley in Oregon to the Finger Lakes in New York. The CANADA Act is a good step to re-opening that market to American wines,” said WineAmerica executive director Michael Kaiser in a statement. 

CBC News requested an interview with Tenney on Monday morning, but her officials have yet to respond.

The provincial bans — in place in every province except Alberta and Saskatchewan — are a bargaining chip in the ongoing trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. There appears to be little incentive for either the premiers or the prime minister to see the bans lifted until Canada secures a trade deal that includes tariff relief. 

If made law, Tenney’s legislation would direct the office of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to investigate provincial liquor board restrictions on the import and distribution of U.S. products. 

Under Section 301 of the Trade Act, the USTR has the power to impose penalties — including tariffs or import restrictions — if an investigation finds that a foreign government is engaging in a discriminatory practice that “burdens or restricts” U.S. commerce. 

In short, the USTR not only conducts the investigation, it gets to determine the verdict and the sentence. 

Section 301 is the foundation of the Trump administration’s current efforts to replace the blanket global tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down in February. 

A USTR investigation recently determined that 60 U.S. trading partners — including Canada and the European Union — are failing to do enough to keep forced labour out of their supply chains.