ManitobaManitoba Premier Wab Kinew showed no willingness Friday to relax his province’s ban on American alcohol products. He argued the prohibition, enacted by several provinces, has been one of Canada’s responses to the U.S. trade dispute the Trump administration has noticed.Nova Scotia’s donation of sale proceeds to food banks worth investigating: KinewIan Froese · CBC News · Posted: Nov 28, 2025 4:31 PM EST | Last Updated: 10 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Manitoba has pulled U.S.-made liquor from the shelves of its Liquor Mart locations since February of this year. (Gary Solilak/CBC)Manitobans looking to sidle up to the bar with their favourite U.S.-made liquor will have to keep waiting.Premier Wab Kinew showed no willingness Friday to relax his province’s ban on American alcohol products. He argued the prohibition, enacted by several provinces, has been one of Canada’s responses to the U.S. trade dispute the Trump administration has noticed.”You’ve heard them talk about this. This is a pain point for them,” Kinew said, after an unrelated news conference.Kinew was asked about the U.S. alcohol his province is stockpiling, after Nova Scotia’s government announced Thursday it would sell off its remaining inventory — valued at roughly $14 million — to residents and donate the net profits to food banks.Kinew said it “probably makes sense for us to consider” Nova Scotia’s approach, before he began praising the decision of the Canadian provinces to yank U.S. alcohol off their shelves. Manitoba economy feeling the tariffsThe move came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump imposing a 25 per cent tariff in February on Canadian goods that aren’t compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. “The first, let’s say nine, 10 months of the year, Manitoba’s economy did pretty good at withstanding the threat of the American tariffs, but now we are starting to see some of the impacts here in Manitoba, so we have to maintain that vigilance against the Trump administration,” Kinew said.The premier said Manitoba poured some of its U.S. alcohol over the summer to support its managed alcohol program. Regulated doses were provided to wildfire evacuees going through alcohol withdrawal symptoms, under the supervision of medical experts, Kinew said.Kinew previously estimated the halt on U.S. alcohol sales in Manitoba alone pulls $80 million annually from the American economy. The U.S. alcohol Manitoba has been stockpiling, including duties, taxes and other fees, amounts to $3.4 million, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries says.Alberta and Saskatchewan lifted their bans on U.S.-made alcohol in June.ABOUT THE AUTHORIan Froese covers the Manitoba Legislature and provincial politics for CBC News in Winnipeg. He also serves as president of the legislature’s press gallery. You can reach him at ian.froese@cbc.ca. Twitter: @ianfroese
It’s a ‘pain point’ for Trump: Manitoba sticking to ban of U.S. alcohol sales, premier says
