"Buy Canadian Instead" signs are placed on shelves at a liquor store in Vancouver in March. Liang Sen/Xinhua/Getty Images New York —

Virginia Distillery CEO Gareth Moore was bullish on his company’s American single malt whisky sales north of the border when 2025 kicked off.

But then demand crashed as the centuries-long friendship between the United States and Canada broke down amid bruised feelings over tariffs and President Donald Trump’s threat to make Canada the 51st US state .

“We were looking to triple the business. Instead, it collapsed to zero,” Moore told CNN in a phone interview. “It was almost like suddenly the whisky didn’t taste good because of where it’s from.”

Canadian officials went so far as to ban American spirits from their store shelves, a prohibition

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