WASHINGTON — Just under two hours before steep tariffs on Canadian goods were set to take effect Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a three-day pause to allow for the finalization of a deal.

“As you know, the 50% tariffs across the board were going on against Canada today, and they called yesterday and they gave us the points that we had to have,” Trump said Wednesday. “Very fair deal for both.”

It’s not clear what the deal includes.

One of the sticking points for the White House has been that all but two Canadian provinces stopped selling American alcohol products last year.

The move was retaliation for President Trump’s tariffs on imports of Canadian products including steel and aluminum.

“We hope that both parties use three days to come to an agreement, and that agreement includes American whiskey’s ability to access the Canadian market,” said Michael Bilello, president and CEO of the American Whiskey Association. “More importantly, we hope that the provinces agree and align with the federal government and allow American whiskey to access the shelves. That means getting back on the shelves.”

U.S. liquor exports to Canada dropped 70%, from $203 million from March to December 2024 to $60 million during the same time period in 2025, after Canadian provinces pulled American spirits from shelves, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.

According to recent polling done by Nanos for CTV News, 74% of Canadians said they are not likely to buy American alcohol products if they are put back on the shelves.  

“I think that there’s a lot of politicians in Canada who have taken, I think, pretty good advantage of the opportunity to fire up their base, so there’s no doubt a lot of anti-American sentiment up there,” Bilello said. “At the end of the day, this is about American whiskey. We didn’t ask to be included or involved in these trade discussions, and we just want to connect with our consumer.”

Cal Bricker, president and CEO of Spirits Canada, told Spectrum News in a statement Wednesday:

“We remain optimistic that we can get the issues resolved and get back to the free trade environment that existed previously. Our goal is precisely the same as our U.S. colleagues. Free and fair trade in the sector.”