President Donald Trump declared a 25% tariff on Canadian imports on Saturday. Premiers in several Canadian provinces responded by announcing they would remove American wines and other alcoholic beverages from the shelves of their state-run liquor stores.

The Oregon wine industry, which counts Canada as its number one export market, took notice when Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, directed the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the agency that controls all alcohol sales to restaurants, bars and stores in Canada’s most populous province, to stop selling American alcohol products to its outlets.

Similar actions followed in Nova Scotia, British Columbia (BC), Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Soon enough, “Buy Canadian Instead” signs adorned with maple leaves began replacing American bottles on Canadian store shelves. In a press release, Ford advised, “There’s never been a better time to choose an amazing Ontario-made or Canadian-made product.”

Oregon exports 46% of its total exports to Canada, meaning Canada’s tariff response, as Alex Sokol Blosser, president of Sokol Blosser in Dayton, said in an interview early on Monday, “is really going to hurt.”

Oregon’s wine exports to Canada totaled 72,641 cases in 2023, according to the most recent Oregon Vineyard and Winery Census conducted by the University of Oregon’s Institute for Policy Research and Engagement.

Over the weekend, Oregon wineries began to receive word from their Canadian partners, but it wasn’t good. Jay Somers, winemaker at Anne Amie Vineyards in Carlton, said he and the winery’s national sales team were in the “11th hour” of a deal in Quebec for a long-term commitment to sell thousands of cases of their Müller-Thurgau wine.

According to Somers, when Trump announced the tariffs, Anne Amie’s Canadian partners walked away from the deal. And it wasn’t just because of the tariffs.

“They said they didn’t want to put us in a position where nobody would buy our wine because it was American,” Somers said.

On Monday, numerous Oregon wineries received notifications from their business partners in Ontario and Quebec that their wines would be removed from shelves and that future orders would be canceled.

Sokol Blosser said his winery had just shipped two orders to Ontario, and those wines couldn’t even be sold on consignment under the new orders.

“To have the rug pulled out from under us like this in Canada, that’s 30 years of market investment that we potentially have to light a match to,” Sokol Blosser said.

And it wasn’t just Oregon’s wineries getting the boot. Steve Vuylsteke, president and CEO at SakéOne in Forest Grove, said in an email early Monday, “SakéOne got notice today from both Ontario and Quebec canceling purchase orders from us.”

Late Monday, the American and Canadian governments reported a 30-day pause on tariffs while negotiations over border security and other issues continued. In a statement released Monday afternoon, Gina Bianco, executive director of the Oregon Wine Board, called the temporary trade ceasefire “encouraging.”

For now, Oregon wines and other alcoholic beverages can move through Canada’s state systems.

“Technically, we are allowed to order and sell wine from America now. What will happen after 30 days, I can not say,” said Daun Bailey, founder and president of Barrel Select in Toronto.

Barrel Select is an Ontario-based agency that imports Anne Hubatch’s Portland-made Helioterra Wines. Hubatch said that Barrel Select brings her wines in through the LCBO to sell in non-retail settings such as restaurants.

Despite a tariff pause, has any damage already been done? Anne Amie’s partner in Quebec expressed the concern that Canadian consumers will now focus on buying from anywhere other than the United States to express their feelings about Trump and tariffs—pause or no pause.

Albert J. “Al” Hudec is a Vancouver, BC-based attorney with decades of experience advising the wine industry on sales transactions and regulatory matters. When asked if Canadian consumers would continue to ignore American wines during the 30-day pause, he said, “I very much think there will be a holdover. The average Canadian is clearly in a mood to buy Canadian, both in the grocery stores and the liquor stores.”

Another veteran of the Canadian wine scene is John Clerides, owner of Marquis Wine Cellars in Vancouver, BC, where Premier David Eby only chose to target alcohols made in “red states.”

Despite that caveat, Clerides said the staff of a local nightclub that he owns decided to remove all American products from their service. “They put the decision on Facebook, and it got a ton of positive comments,” Clerides said in a telephone call.

Marquis Wine Cellars carries wines from over two dozen Oregon wineries. While he said he hasn’t heard any customers complain about them yet, Clerides allowed that the tariff situation has only had a few days to percolate. Clerides noted that on the retail level, “I’m going to wait and see what my customers say. If they don’t want to buy American wines, that’s entirely their decision.”

Outside his shop, Clerides said that, like Hudec, he hears through friends and social media that “Canadians are tired of being pushed around by the ‘big brother’ in the south and buying local is their way of putting their foot down.”

Broadley Vineyards in Monroe is one of several wineries that lost a pending deal in Quebec over the weekend. After the 30-day pause was announced, Jessica Broadley, the winery’s direct sales and operations manager, was asked if the break would make a difference for Oregon producers in Canada.

“Honestly, I don’t think the 30-day delay will change anything. I think the only thing that will change anything is if the tariffs are canceled,” she replied.