Canada's boycott of American wine amid trade war has Lodi winemakers feeling the pinch
President Donald Trump's tariffs have sparked a trade war with Canada, leading to a boycott of American wines and significantly impacting Lodi's wine industry.Lodi producers export nearly 30% of their wine to Canada, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the largest wine buyer in the world, has decided to remove all American wine and alcohol from their shelves.Ironstone Vineyards is among the businesses feeling the impact firsthand."There's a lot of inventory and a lot of orders that are sitting there that should have already been released and probably sold through already," said Joan Krautz of Ironstone Vineyards. "Canada is about 10% of our overall sales, about 20% of our exports, so it’s a hugely important market for us. We’ve been building our brands there for the last 30 years, so it has had a definite impact."These actions come at a time when the wine industry in Lodi has already been facing years of low sales, with some producers removing vineyards due to a surplus in wine grapes last year."A lot of people’s economic livelihood depends on this," said Stuart Spencer of the Lodi Winegrape Commission. "We saw a 30 to 35% drop in revenue within a 30% drop in revenue within our region last year because of the grapes going unharvested in a downward pressure on price."The loss creates a domino effect, impacting irrigation companies and farm workers who are hired to harvest these grapes.| VIDEO BELOW | Small California winemakers feel impact of Trump’s planned tariffs"We’ve had orders canceled. We have wine that’s sitting in warehouses in Canada that can’t be sold. We’ve missed product releases. We’ve missed or have had to push back promotions and marketing campaigns that we had planned, because it’s pointless to do it if there’s no wine out there to be purchased," Krautz said.The Allied Grape Growers estimates that 37,500 acres were removed between the 2023 and 2024 harvests, further illustrating the challenges faced by the industry.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
