No return of U.S. booze without ‘tariff relief,’ says premier

Erica Butler · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 19, 2026 4:57 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 19

Premier Susan Holt says she won’t allow more American liquor on New Brunswick store shelves until the U.S. lowers tariffs on softwood lumber and other products. 

U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to booze bans in Canadian provinces when he threatened his latest round of tariffs on a long list of Canadian goods in July.  

But Holt said she wants to see tariffs imposed last year rolled back before she considers concessions. 

“You don't get rewarded for threatening tariffs,” said Holt at a meet and greet at a Memramcook winery on Wednesday. 

“You have to take us back to the time before we had tariffs.”

N.B. Liquor continues to sell existing U.S. stock

Holt said that even if U.S. products return to N.B. Liquor stores, she has a hunch “New Brunswickers wouldn't buy [them].”

In fact, since January, New Brunswickers have been able to buy U.S. booze from N.B. Liquor's remaining inventory, but sales are still far from pre-ban levels. 

WATCH | ‘Take us back to the free and fair trade we used to have’:

N.B. Liquor stopped buying new U.S. products in February 2025 and then pulled all U.S. products off its shelves in March 2025.  

But starting in May 2025, the remaining stock of U.S. products has been available for sale, first at agent stores and grocery stores, then at N.B. Liquor's depot store in Salisbury.  

In January 2026, N.B. Liquor made its remaining U.S. inventory available “in all channels, including [N.B. Liquor] corporate stores,” said spokesperson Angela Bosse via email.

Bosse said that, anecdotally, the corporation has seen customers choosing more Canadian and local products. Shoppers want to know “where the products they are purchasing come from and who makes them."

Before it stopped importing U.S. products, N.B. Liquor sold roughly $40 million worth of U.S. products a year. But in the 10-month period from May 2025 to March 2026, when the corporation was not replenishing or reordering U.S. products, it sold just $5.85 million worth of its remaining inventory.   

No details on possible concessions

Prime Minister Mark Carney would not say what concessions are on the table in current negotiations.  

Federal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters Wednesday afternoon that final details were being ironed out in the agreement. 

A spokesperson for the premier said Wednesday morning via email that the province has not received any information about negotiations.

Retaliation turned to vulnerability?

University of New Brunswick economist Herb Emery said that although the U.S. booze ban “made us feel good with elbows up,” at its outset, it is now “part of what's made us vulnerable to this round of tariffs.”

And it may be time to consider lifting it as a trade concession, said Emery. 

“Retaliating against U.S. trade barriers … may feel good in the short run,” said Emery, “but it can cost you in the long run.

“In a lot of cases, I think we'd be better off just turning the other cheek, rather than acting like we actually have some power with the United States, when we're a fraction of their size.”

But Holt’s message Wednesday is clear: “We need to see tariff relief,” said the premier.  

U.S. booze is “not coming back onto the shelves until the U.S. does something to take us back to the free and fair trade we used to have."