Trump Blows Up Trade Talks With Canada; High Whiskey Tariffs Coming

By Richard Thomas

Trump lost his 2018 Trade War; he lost his 2025 Trade Wars; had his power to unilaterally declare the tariffs of the 2025 trade wars declared illegal by the courts; and he is in the midst of losing his war with Iran. But apparently he has not lost his appetite for coming up short in international conflicts, because he blew up trade talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney late Saturday. The collapse of the talks triggered reciprocal 50% tariffs between the United States and its second largest trading partner on a host of products, among them whiskeys from both countries.

For now, Canadian Whisky imports into the United States are on the tariff firing line, but that extends beyond Canadian brands like Crown Royal and Canadian Club. Sazerac’s Fireball, ever popular with the college crowd, is a Canadian import as well. Likewise, some sourced brands of rye whiskey, such as WhistlePig, are based on Canadian imports.

Canadian Prime Minister did not specify whiskey when he promised retaliatory tariffs to go into effect September 8, instead naming “steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics,” but there is every reason to believe American-made whiskey will be targeted, because it was targeted during the previous round of trade warring last year. Not only was American Whiskey targeted by tariffs, but it also became the subject of a popular boycott in much of Canada.

The American Whiskey industry was hit hard by the previous trade wars in 2018 and then again in 2025, with many small distillers in particular having abandoned their plans to build an export market permanently after 2018’s losses. The 2025 round of wider trade wars caused whiskey exports generally to fall 19%, being one of the major causes of the prevailing industry sales slump. Unless Trump reverses course (i.e. TACO), this cause of the sales slump looks set to continue into 2027.