Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised the return of U.S. liquor to store shelves once a trade deal is reached, but President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to agree that “everyone’s going to be kumbaya.”
While in Washington, D.C., meeting with U.S. lawmakers, Ford emphasized that Ontario’s ban on U.S. alcohol sales will not be reversed until Canada and the U.S. reach an agreement to end the trade war between the neighboring nations. But Trump reportedly is “not looking to renew” the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“I just want to get this deal done, and I can assure you, once that deal is done, I’m going to be sitting down and bringing all the booze back on shelves in Ontario, and everyone’s going to be kumbaya,” Ford told reporters, adding, “maybe we’ll have a little drink of Kentucky bourbon or something in Ontario.”
Doug Ford: I gotta assure you once that [CUSMA] deal’s done, I’m gonna be sitting down and bringing all the booze back on shelves in Ontario. pic.twitter.com/ux51e3NjYv
— Scott Robertson (@sarobertson_) June 9, 2026
Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on most goods from Canada last year, prompting Ford to order the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to pull over 3,600 American alcohol products from store shelves. The premier has said that he would lift the ban as soon as an agreement is reached, but Trump seemed against a renewal of the free trade deal between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
The president replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in his first term. That automatically expires on July 1, 2026, unless the nations renew the agreement for another 16-year term before July 1.
“Well, I’m not looking to renew it,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
“I made the deal, and the primary reason I made the deal is that NAFTA was the worst trade deal I’ve ever seen. Yeah. And I made it better. But I had the right to terminate,” he said.
Reporter: How confident are you that you’ll be able to renew the USMCA and what more do you expect from Canada?
Trump: I’m not looking to renew it. We don’t need anything that Canada has. We don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have. We don’t… pic.twitter.com/FwtLZTEtj5
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 10, 2026
“I don’t know that I’m going to redo it because, to be honest with you. We don’t need anything Canada has, we don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have, and they have to treat us better,” Trump said.
“With Mexico and Canada, we have trade deficits. We should have surpluses with them. We don’t need their cars. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything,” he added.
