- The CEO of Jack Daniel’s parent company criticized Canada for its “disproportionate” response to US tariffs.
- The CEO of Brown-Forman said Canada pulling US alcohol off its shelves was “worse than a tariff.”
- In response to Trump’s tariffs, Canada announced a 25% levy on all US exports on Monday.
A top Jack Daniel’s executive isn’t happy about how some Canadian provinces responded to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Ontario and New Brunswick instructed state-affiliated alcohol retailers this week to remove US-made alcohol from store shelves. The pulling of American alcohol was in response to Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports.
In a Wednesday earnings call, Lawson Whiting, the CEO of Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, said he thought Canada’s retaliation was “worse than a tariff.”
“It’s literally taking your sales away,” Whiting said.
“That’s a very disproportionate response to a 25% tariff,” he added.
Whiting also called it "disappointing" that some Canadians now can't buy Jack Daniel's because of the tariffs.
"We're going to see how that all plays out," Whiting said, adding that Canada is "not a massive" market for the company and makes up "around 1%" of Brown-Forman's sales.
Brown-Forman, which owns other spirit brands like Old Forester and Glendronach, reported that net sales decreased by 3% in the quarter that ended on January 31 compared to the same period the year before.
Brown-Forman's net sales in the quarter totaled $1.04 billion.
The company also reported a 6% decrease in its net income in the latest quarter compared to the year before.
Canadian provinces are clamping down hard on US alcohol
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), a government-run wholesaler of alcohol in Ontario, said on Tuesday that the state government had instructed it to "immediately" cease imports of US alcohol. It's also been told to stop selling American products.
"U.S. products will not be purchased by LCBO until the LCBO is directed to resume normal business," a news release on the LCBO's website said.
The LCBO's annual sales from US alcohol products have been as high as $965 million, per the board's news release.
In a Wednesday Facebook post, the government of Canada's eastern province of New Brunswick said that the province would not be purchasing any new US alcohol products.
It also said that the products had been removed from the shelves of Alcool NB, a government-affiliated alcohol retailer. A video accompanying the post showed shelves in an Alcool NB store labeled "United States" wiped clean.
Société des alcools du Québec, a government-run alcohol retailer in Quebec, said in a Wednesday X post that it's wiping all US products from branches and its website "at the request of the Québec government."
In early February, Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. But those tariffs were delayed by a month after both countries promised to tighten their border security.
The tariffs went into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
In a statement on Monday, Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that the country would impose a retaliatory 25% tariff on $155 billion worth of American goods.
Representatives for Brown Forman did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside regular business hours.