Featured Image Credit: Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images
Topics: Canada, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Food and Drink
Callum Jones
Topics: Canada, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Food and Drink
The makers of Jack Daniel's have issued a response after a video of the much-loved whiskey brand being removed from Canadian shops went viral.
A video circulating online sees shopkeepers in a Canadian store remove the liquor from shelves, seemingly in response to tariffs imposed by Donald Trump and the subsequent response issued by Justin Trudeau, Canada's outgoing prime minister.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has removed US-made alcoholic beverages from its shelves earlier this week, a move that has been slammed by Brown-Forman, the maker of Jack Daniel's.
Lawson Whiting, the company's CEO said in a financial earnings call: "I mean, that's worse than a tariff, because it's literally taking your sales away, completely removing our products from the shelves."
The boss dubbed the counter-tariffs introduced by Canada as 'disproportionate', though Whiting did say Canada accounted for only one percent of their total sales, as per the Guardian.
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Jack Daniel's being removed from Mexico store shelves may be more of a problem for the alcohol maker, as sales in that country account to seven percent of 2024 sales.
As for the future, Whiting is predicting 'continued uncertainty and headwinds in the external environment'.
Last month, Trump signed off on an order imposing tariffs to 'hold China, Mexico and Canada accountable for their promises to halt the flood of poisonous drugs into the US' by placing additional 25 per cent tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico.
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Trump said the only 'solution' for Canada to avoid the tariff is for Canada to 'become [the US'] Cherished 51st State', which the country was of course not going to agree to.
The order claimed there's 'growing production of fentanyl in Canada, and enough fentanyl was seized at the northern border last fiscal year to kill 9.8 million Americans'.
Trudeau, on the other hand, has argued 'less than one per cent of the fentanyl intercepted at the US border comes from Canada' and the country has 'worked relentlessly to address this scourge that affects Canadians and Americans alike'.
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That came to no prevail, however, leading to an escalation in the situation.
Canada responded with its own counter-tariffs, as they are not willing to let Trump's 'unjustified decision go unanswered', alongside being in 'active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures'.
"While we urge the US administration to reconsider their tariffs, Canada remains firm in standing up for our economy, our jobs, our workers, and for a fair deal," Trudeau said.