Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says Prime Minister Mark Carney effectively warned provincial leaders that Canada may not secure a trade agreement with the United States unless they return American alcohol to store shelves.Asked Thursday whether Carney’s message was that “if you don’t put the booze back on the shelves, we won’t have a signed deal by the end of the week,” Kinew replied: “Yeah, effectively, yeah.”Kinew said Carney asked the premiers to restore U.S. alcohol during a briefing on the emerging agreement..“I was told by the prime minister that he wants us to put the booze back on the shelf,” Kinew said.“I wouldn’t say that he was begging us, but what is the step before begging?”.Kinew acknowledged Carney’s position as Ottawa works to finalize an agreement with U.S. President Donald Trump before the tariff pause expires.“I get it from his perspective,” Kinew said. “He’s the one who got on the phone with Donald Trump, which, you know, I don’t think any of us want to be on the phone with Trump or in a photo with him.”“But there you go. Somebody has to do it. Thank you, Mark Carney, for doing it.”Kinew said Manitoba’s position had been “no CUSMA, no booze-ma,” referring to the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.“I think that condition has been satisfied. We do have CUSMA,” he said.Kinew said reported exemptions for goods compliant with CUSMA and a process to continue the continental trade agreement were “looking good,” but he remained unhappy that tariffs would continue affecting Canadian industries.“There’s tariffs in the deal, and we have a big steel plant in Selkirk, Manitoba — great employer, great people who go there each and every day — and I’d love the tariffs to be zero,” he said.“I’m skeptical. I’m not going to cheerlead things here.”Kinew said he still wants to know the tariff rates facing steel and aluminum before assessing the agreement.“What did we have two years ago before Trump? What did we have a year ago?” he asked.“What might we have when American elected representatives grow some backbone and stand up to a president who’s raising the cost of living on their constituents?”Kinew indicated Manitoba could return American alcohol to stores within days if the province decides to support the agreement, although restocking the complete selection could take weeks because some products require French labels.“The deal will not be right for me, I would expect,” he said. “But it’s not about me. It’s about Team Canada.”Even if American products return, Kinew urged consumers not to buy them.“When we put the American booze back on the Liquor Mart shelves, Canadians, leave it there,” he said.“Spend your money on Canadian products that are going to employ people in our country and that have an administration that respects Canada.”“You see a maple leaf? Buy that. You see the stars and stripes? Maybe keep browsing.”
