Trump says Canada ‘entitled’ as his trade ban on alcohol, other goods nears

U.S. President Donald Trump accused Canada of being "entitled" during a trade dispute involving bans on imports of Canadian alcohol, dairy products, and motorcycles. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump stated that Canada takes advantage of the United States and gets 95 per cent of the business they do with the country.

The ban, set to take effect on September 29 at 12:01 a.m., aims to retaliate against Canada's retaliatory counter-tariffs on U.S. goods. Canadian businesses, particularly those in the spirits industry, are concerned about the significant loss of revenue from sales to the U.S. market. Craig Peters, founder and CEO of Maverick Distillery, highlighted that a large portion of Canadian product was previously sent to the U.S., and shutting off that market will take years to recover from.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, Candace Laing, criticized the ban as a "tornado of changes" intended to overwhelm and punish Canada for the world to see. Spirits Canada, representing Canadian producers of alcohol, expressed concern over the impact on its industry, noting that half of the nearly $2 billion in product produced annually is shipped to the U.S. Beer Canada also warned that the ban will hit individual businesses with more U.S. trade exposure hard, as the industry is built for the domestic market.

Wine growers in Canada, meanwhile, are bracing for "lasting consequences" from the ban, as the U.S. market is a crucial revenue channel for them. The economic impact of the ban is expected to be minimal due to the small share of trade affected, but the ban is more symbolic and serves as retaliation to Canada's provincial bans on U.S. alcohol.