{"id":149444,"date":"2026-07-30T10:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/149444\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:46:10","slug":"tariff-war-with-canada-is-hurting-californias-wine-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/149444\/","title":{"rendered":"Tariff war with Canada is hurting California’s wine industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s hard to hate on Canada<\/a>. It\u2019s like cursing a cotton ball, or raging about tapioca.<\/p>\n

The friendliest of neighbors, the country has fought alongside the U.S. in conflicts going back to World War I, purchased many trillions of dollars worth of American goods and blessed this country with, among other gifts, ice hockey, Drake, Joni Mitchell and Alex Trebek.<\/p>\n

While you can question the nation\u2019s culinary sensibility \u2014 the unofficial dish, poutine, is an abomination consisting of French fries, cheese curds and hot gravy<\/a> \u2014 Canada is basically a very large, very pretty country<\/a> filled with a lot of very nice, extremely polite people.<\/p>\n

But for reasons only he can fathom, President Trump has declared economic war<\/a> on our amiable northern neighbor.<\/p>\n

After more than a year of trading tit-for-tat tariffs, Trump recently escalated the conflict by slapping a new 50% tax on a variety of Canadian exports<\/a>, including cement, furniture, dairy products and, most iconically, hockey sticks. The added levy, which will further burden inflation-weary U.S. consumers, is set to take effect in mid-August.<\/p>\n

The move makes little sense from an economic or foreign policy standpoint<\/a>. It\u2019s best to regard Trump\u2019s trade moves as a wind gauge charts a blustery storm; his on-again, off-again tariffs are not the result of some carefully thought-out policy but, rather, a measure of the president\u2019s shifting moods and pique toward certain foreign leaders. <\/p>\n

And they carry a not-inconsiderable price tag \u2014 California\u2019s struggling wine industry<\/a> being just one example.<\/p>\n

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For decades, the industry has been a vital and growing part of California\u2019s agricultural economy. Recent years, however, have seen a number of setbacks.<\/p>\n

Costs are rising. Sales are falling, as younger generations favor hard seltzers, canned cocktails or premium beers over crushed grapes. At the same time, climate change and the growing incidence of wildfire<\/a> threaten the viability of some of California\u2019s premier wine-growing regions.<\/p>\n

A Canadian ban on alcohol imports<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the trade war with Canada, the industry\u2019s largest export market and formerly a major customer of California wines. Until recently, the Canadian market accounted for more than a third of the state\u2019s exports.<\/p>\n

But last year, several provinces stopped purchasing U.S. alcohol in response to Trump\u2019s tariffs and his threats \u2014 more slapstick than real \u2014 to annex the country and make Canada the 51st American state<\/a>. While two provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta, soon lifted their bans, the two most populous, Ontario and Quebec, have not.<\/p>\n

As a result of this \u201cgeopolitical friction,\u201d to use the words of University of California researchers<\/a>, California wine exports to Canada fell by nearly 80% in 2025 compared with the year before. Unsurprisingly, Canadian sales of homegrown wines have soared.<\/p>\n

Stick that in your terroir<\/a>!<\/p>\n

In response to the dramatic drop in exports, more than a dozen California members of Congress wrote last month to Quebec\u2019s premier, Christine Fr\u00e9chette, urging her to lift the retaliatory ban on U.S. wine and spirits. <\/p>\n

\u201cReopening the market to American wine would restore consumer choice and signal a commitment to restoring fair and balanced trade for Qu\u00e9becois consumers and American wineries who have no connection to the underlying trade disputes,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n

Sen. Adam Schiff also wrote Fr\u00e9chette asking her to resume the sale of California wine and U.S. spirits. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe restriction on American wine has had damaging consequences for regional consumers, businesses, and producers who have no influence over national policies,\u201d the California Democrat<\/a> stated. \u201cIn fact, I have repeatedly voiced my opposition to and voted against the President\u2019s harmful trade policies, including as they pertain to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s response was, in a word: \u201cNon!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of the ongoing trade war, the premier continues to defend Quebec\u2019s economic interests,\u201d a spokesperson for Fr\u00e9chette told CBC Radio. \u201cThis measure will remain in place as long as the United States maintains these unjustified tariffs. Our government will re-evaluate its position when the American administration reverses these measures.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that statement came before Trump upped the ante, along with the tariffs on Canada, which, presumably, doesn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n

Red or white?<\/p>\n

Mike Thompson<\/a> has seen the damage of Trump\u2019s economic warfare firsthand. The St. Helena Democrat represents the heart of Wine Country and spearheaded, along with Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta of Carmel and Republican Rep. David Valadao of Hanford<\/a>, the bipartisan overture to Quebec\u2019s premier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked to a vintner today,\u201d Thompson said during a drive this week through his sprawling Northern California district. \u201cThey went from an $11-million annual wine export to a $2-million annual wine export to Canada because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson has introduced legislation, including a measure to reimburse wine producers for the money they\u2019ve lost due to Trump\u2019s tariffs, but the proposals have stalled in the House despite bipartisan support. His effort, Thompson dryly noted, \u201chas not been warmly embraced by the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the cross-border hostilities continue. Neither Trump nor Fr\u00e9chette seems ready to budge, with California vintners still stuck in the middle.<\/p>\n

So the question in Montreal and Toronto remains: What pairs best with poutine? Canadian white or red?<\/p>\n

What else you should be reading<\/p>\n

The must-read: Trump administration targeted California and other blue states for clean energy cuts<\/a>
The deep dive: Justice Kennedy reflects on his time deciding the Constitution\u2019s promise of liberty and equality<\/a>
The L.A. Times Special: <\/a>His nickname was \u2018Satan.\u2019 His political influence was immense<\/a>
Until next time,
mzb
\u2014
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here<\/a> to get it in your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to hate on Canada. It\u2019s like cursing a cotton ball, or raging about tapioca. The friendliest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48308,17,48311,48310,48312,48309,11355,6186,48315,48316,36503,48314,25157,48313,14494,2934],"class_list":["post-149444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-biden","tag-canada","tag-court-pick","tag-essential-politics","tag-first-black-woman","tag-gender","tag-high-court","tag-history","tag-jefferson","tag-media-coverage","tag-nominee","tag-political-criticism","tag-race","tag-stereotypes","tag-supreme-court","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}