Trump's trade war and Canada's retaliatory tariffs bring good news for Ontario wines

Pratyush Dayal · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

In the shadiness of Donald Trump's commercialized warfare and Canada's retaliatory tariffs, Ontario's vino manufacture is seeing a silver lining.

At Cooper's Hawk Vineyards successful Harrow, laminitis and co-owner Tom O'Brien said Ontario's determination to instrumentality down American liquor from the LCBO shelves has "actually been beauteous positive" for them.

"We've [seen] sales spell up astir 40 per cent since the American merchandise came disconnected the shelf. So, that's been super, ace helpful," helium said.

"Actually the removal of that I deliberation has forced radical to effort much Ontario wines and similar them and past support buying them."

He said helium was "pleasantly surprised" to spot Canadians power truthful rapidly to locally-grown wines. He was suspecting a marginal summation but the 40 per cent amounts to astir $4,000 a period for them

O'Brien said they person six wines nether the LCBO's nonstop transportation programme and are thankful to the wholesaler's programme called Support Ontario Wineries, which selected 60 wines crossed the full state including 1 of theirs. 

Even if the American vino should travel back, O'Brien said, much Canadians would person go accustomed to Ontario wines and volition hopefully support buying them.

Debbie Zimmerman, the main enforcement serviceman for the Grape Growers of Ontario, said she hopes truthful too.

"Because the U.S. vino is disconnected the shelves, we person an accidental to enactment much Ontario vino connected the shelves. We haven't seen that benignant of accidental for a agelong time," she said.

'Seeing that summation crossed the province': Grape growers of Ontario

Zimmerman said the Ontario authorities has opened up astir 8,000 points of access, of which 5,000 are presently operational, thereby boosting the entree of Ontario wines from convenience stores to market stores.

"People person much entree to Ontario wine. So, it's alternatively serendipitous that we've had these tariffs and American wines travel disconnected the shelf. We person much entree for our consumers," she said.

"So, present we're seeing a existent uptake successful radical choosing to beryllium precise patriotic arsenic good to prime up that 100 per cent Ontario-grown vessel of wine. We're seeing that summation crossed the province."

Zimmerman said they are seeing an wide summation successful income crossed the state of about 29 per cent.

The different contributing factor, she said, is the dropping of the commercialized barriers. 

"Meaning I tin present bargain a vino from Nova Scotia, for example, and not person to wage a tariff if it's delivered to my house."

The "uncertain territory" with the tariffs, Zimmerman said, is challenging but the manufacture is planning for maturation for the future, including accrued grape production.

"We're not definite day-to-day however the U.S. is going to respond to something, she said, and we're caught successful that instrumentality of change."

She said grape and vino accumulation is simply a vertically integrated business in Ontario and producers are counting connected the authorities enactment for the aboriginal to guarantee that they stay operational.

"We've seen that committedness from Premier Ford and his government," she said.

"We're counting connected that enactment arsenic we determination guardant to guarantee that we [are] viable connected some sides of the ledgers connected increasing grapes and producing wine."