WINDSOR, Ontario (WXYZ) — It’s a Thursday night out in Windsor and like most bars along the border, shelves at Lefty’s on the O are stocked with both Canadian and American alcohol.
The bar's owner Jim Arbour learned Thursday about a potential ban on the sale of American-made alcohol in Ontario.
“It doesn't really worry me because a lot of our alcohol products are bottled in Canada or Europe, so I can't see it affecting us a ton,” Arbour said. "We're gonna have some American ones like Jim Beam, Jack Daniels. We'll just have to see how it goes when they do that.”
While many American beer brands sold in Canada are also bottled in Canada, bourbon like Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam come from the U.S.
Around the corner, the owner of Eastwood’s Bar and Grill estimates 30% of the alcohol he sells is American made.
“It will be detrimental to our industry for sure,” Eastwood's owner Duane Chouinerd said. "We'd have to cross that bridge when we get to it or I'd have to stockpile it just before that just so I'm not running out.”
The threat from Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford comes in response to President-elect Donald Trump's promise of sweeping tariffs on Canada including a 25% tax on all imports from Canada.
“If he comes out and says he's gonna tariff everything, that's a big problem," Ford said during a press conference. "It's a big problem for Canadians, it's a big problem for Americans as well.”
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In addition to banning the sale of U.S.-made alcohol in Ontario, Ford also threatened to cut off electricity sent to states like Michigan. He says doing so would make electricity unaffordable for Americans. Ontario is known to power about 1.5 million U.S. homes, but DTE did not have a comment Thursday evening on how this would impact its customers.
“I don't want this to happen, but my No. 1 job is to protect Ontario," Ford said. "We will go to the full extent depending how far this goes."
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Those enjoying their night out are also reacting to the potential trade war.
“A little disappointed that I might see the banning of my favorite shots to take, but we'll get around it,” Starr Meloche of Windsor said. “More than the specifics of like oh no, I won't be able to drink Jack Daniels, I think about what are the wider implications and what’s going to follow suit and if we start with tariffs on alcohol, what other industries are going to be affected?”
While the threat of tariffs and restrictions are so far just talk, Ford believes it’s real.
“We need to be ready to fight. This fight is coming 100% on January the 20th or January 21st,” Ford said. “We will use every tool in our toolbox to fight back. We can't just sit back and rollover. We can't. We can't as a country.”
