The Alberta government is selling off U.S. liquor from its warehouses, about two weeks after ordering the provincial agency in charge of regulating alcohol to stop importing U.S. products in response to tariffs.
The government initially directed Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (ALGC) to cease the sale of U.S. alcohol on March 5, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian products.
Most provinces removed U.S. liquor from provincially run store shelves in response to the tariffs. The boycott of American alcohol products continued even after Trump announced a 30-day tariff suspension on products covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
While in Alberta liquor stores are private, ALGC said it would no longer import U.S. products. It has now started pushing out the U.S. products it had in storage.
“U.S. liquor products that are currently shown as ‘out of stock’ will be updated to ‘available for sale’ if there is inventory in the warehouse,” the agency said in a new notice on its website.
Sales were expected to start on March 19 at 6 a.m.
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ALGC also said it was pausing storage charges on U.S. products until April 5. It had previously announced a pause on charges until June.
Roughly 10 percent of liquor sold in Alberta is imported from the U.S., the Alberta government said in a March 5 news release. Approximately $292 million in U.S. liquor products were sold in Alberta in 2023-2024.
