Ontario's premier on spirited debate over American alcohol in Canada

[0:00] So apparently America isn't invited to happy hour. The spirited debate continues as Ontario [0:05] Premier Doug Ford declares that American alcohol will not return to shelves until the United States [0:10] removes its tariffs on Canadian goods. A flat rejection of mounting U.S. pressure to lift a ban [0:17] that has reshaped the province's liquor market for more than a year. All this leading to the [0:22] tension on the Hill and this spat between New Hampshire Democratic Senator Gene Shaheen [0:27] and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. It is outrageous that Canada will not put [0:34] U.S. spirits on the shelf. It is insulting. It is. And disrespectful to America that they won't even [0:42] And my husband has an interest in a company that has American spirits and they won't do it because [0:51] of the insults from this president and comments like yours. Well we did reach out to the White [0:58] House for comment on the back and forth over trade and alcohol. But we are yet to hear back. But we [1:03] are hearing from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. He joins me now. Good to see you Doug. Yeah great to be on [1:10] Kara. All right. Well we saw this video of you pouring out American whiskey at a press conference when this [1:16] all started last year. So you know I always have to have a little fun with you. What cocktail are you [1:21] missing the most right now? Well that's actually some Canadian whiskey. But in saying that this all comes [1:30] down to one thing Kara. Let's get back to the table. Let's start negotiating. And they're worried about [1:37] and I differentiate first of all between President Trump and Secretary Lutnick. American people. I love the [1:45] American people. We love. Canadians love Americans. And I know Americans love Canadians. So that's what we [1:52] need to focus on. So I have to ask you though you pulled the U.S. alcohol in response to Trump's [2:00] tariffs. Understood. But your consumers you know they lost access to hundreds of products now and it's also [2:06] impacting your businesses. So especially smaller owned businesses. How do you justify this as leverage in a [2:14] trade dispute when it's you know impacting your folks directly? Well I wouldn't say it's impacting [2:20] our folks. The tariffs are impacting our folks. But it's impacting Americans too. A tariff on Canada is a [2:27] tax on America. And I'll give you a couple examples. The auto sector has lost 107 billion dollars [2:34] since the tariffs came in effect. Tourism is down by 30 percent. Four and a half billion dollars. [2:41] 90,000 American manufacturing jobs are gone. And this is not what the President ran on. He ran on [2:48] making sure there's more jobs. Well now there's less jobs because of the tariffs that he's put on [2:55] Canada. Your number one customer in the world. We buy more products than anyone. And vice versa. [3:01] America buys more products off Canada than anyone. So we've been so intertwined. We have to get back to [3:08] the table and start negotiating. All right. Every time you come on this show you always talk about [3:13] how much you love America. You highlight the long lasting relationship you know between our [3:18] countries. But it's also clear you don't necessarily love Trump or at least you don't love his policies. [3:25] And we all know politics with Trump gets personal every single time. Do you think your beef with him [3:32] is just too big to repair right now? Well I'll never get personal. I'll just put out facts. [3:39] Maybe President Trump should take a few lines out of Ronald Reagan, one of the greatest presidents [3:46] ever. He was about building trade, creating more jobs, more opportunities on both sides of the border. [3:53] We're your closest neighbours, closest friends, closest allies in the entire world, Canada. [3:57] And again that there's no doubt that Canadians love Americans. They don't see eye to eye with [4:04] President Trump right now. I can assure you when he's attacking our auto sector, our steel sector, [4:08] our aluminum sector, our dairy sector and the list of lumber sector. It goes on and on and on. But [4:15] I can assure you we need each other. You need the high grade nickel. You need our aluminum. You need [4:22] air steel. You need the oil, the four million barrels as what's happening over in Iran right now. [4:29] You need Canadian oil and we ship four million. You need our energy coming from Ontario that we power [4:35] 1.5 million homes and businesses in Michigan, in New York, in Minnesota. It's so much better to work [4:42] together than the fight over tariffs. It just doesn't make sense. Then I've got to ask you do you see an [4:48] end to this? And if so, what's it going to take, Doug? Well, I see an end to it and hopefully it'll be [4:55] a good end that both countries can prosper and more jobs are created on both sides of the border. [5:01] That's the way it's been for 200 years and it should continue to be that way for the next 200 years. [5:08] We're your closest allies, friends. We've stood shoulder to shoulder in many situations [5:13] and we're going to continue moving forward. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, you'll be drinking [5:19] Canadian whiskey, it looks like, for a while. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. It's great whiskey.