Canada News Roundup: U.S. Economy Shrinks, LNG Exports Natural Gas, and Sprague Foods goes Mainstream
June 18, 2025
🍷 Wine Exports Collapse as Retaliation Deepens
In a striking (if fermented) sign of just how deep the trade rift has grown, U.S. wine exports to Canada dropped by an astounding 93% in April—marking the steepest year-over-year plunge in over two decades. The data, buried in the latest U.S. trade report, shows that wine shipments fell to just $1.9 million, down from $27.6 million the year prior.
Ontario’s LCBO alone delisted U.S. products across all 677 stores, cutting off a market worth nearly a billion dollars annually. Quebec, B.C., Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador followed suit, framing the move as deliberate retaliation for Trump’s tariffs. Alberta and Saskatchewan, for reasons we still can’t quite explain, have resumed U.S. imports—but most provinces are holding firm. As BNN Bloomberg bluntly put it, “Canada pulled the plug.”
But this isn’t just due to the resolve of the Provinces. Canadian buying habits are shifting as well. Domestic wine sales are up. Retailers are leaning into Niagara, Okanagan, and European options. What started as a sharp rebuke is settling into something more permanent.
The consequences for U.S. producers are mounting. Millions of bottles meant for Canada are now sitting in warehouses. That surplus is pushing prices down and margins with them. Small and mid-sized wineries—especially in Oregon and northern California—are bearing the brunt, with boutique producers reporting lost revenue, strained cash flow, and stalled distribution deals. Even if the tariffs are lifted, some of that stock may never move. As one Sonoma vintner put it: “We didn’t just lose a customer. We lost a relationship we spent decades building.”
This is how these things tend to go: what begins as a response to insult turns into habit. Brand loyalty fades. Shelf space vanishes. Routines change. And what took decades to build can unravel in a matter of months.
The U.S. may try to claw back its market share, but the road back looks long—and likely partial at best.
🔫 Retaliation, Set to Escalate
Canada’s next round of retaliatory tariffs is scheduled to take effect on July 21, targeting U.S. steel and aluminum in response to Trump’s escalating duties on Canadian exports. These new measures follow Ottawa’s earlier moves in March and April, which imposed 25% tariffs on $30 billion in U.S. goods, and a separate levy on American autos and parts not covered under CUSMA.
The July tariffs aren’t automatic—they’re conditional on whether the U.S. shows any willingness to return to the negotiating table. So far, that willingness has not been forthcoming.
What’s being targeted this time says a lot. Canada is one of the world’s top steel exporters. So why, exactly, have we also been importing American steel all these years? The answer, apparently, is because someone thought two-way trade in the same product was efficient. Now, with both countries taxing each other’s metal, it’s beginning to look more like a bad habit than a strategy.
The government says more tariff details are coming in the days ahead. Industry groups, meanwhile, are bracing for impact—and starting to ask the same question: was this trade loop ever really working for us?
🛢️ Canada’s First LNG Export Leaves the Dock
This week, Canada quietly entered a new chapter in energy exports. The first shipment of liquefied natural gas left the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat, B.C., bound for Asia. It’s the first time Canadian gas has been exported directly by sea—a development with big economic and strategic implications, even if it’s not grabbing many headlines.
The facility, a $40 billion project led by Shell and partners including Petronas and PetroChina (yes, you heard that right…Shell, Petronas and PetroChina, sigh), is currently running at partial capacity, with full Phase 1 output expected later this year. The project holds a 40-year export license and could eventually double in size. It’s a major piece of infrastructure—and a long time coming.
Until now, nearly all Canadian natural gas exports went south to the United States. This changes that. For the first time, Canadian producers have direct access to Asian markets, allowing for greater price competitiveness and less dependence on U.S. buyers.
The project also gives some long-overdue validation to pipeline infrastructure. The Coastal GasLink pipeline—which faced years of controversy—was built to supply this very terminal. Now that gas is flowing, and exports are happening, it’s worth asking: are we finally starting to think strategically about the resources we actually have?
This isn’t a victory lap. But it is a milestone—and one that deserves more attention than it’s getting. For a country with vast energy reserves and limited export routes, this is a big deal. Quietly, the game is changing. Maybe.
📉 U.S. Economy Contracts—and the Trump Trade Strategy Starts to Show Its Cost
The U.S. economy shrank by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2025, a steeper decline than initially reported. It’s the country’s first quarterly contraction in three years—and it’s no mystery where the damage is coming from.
A 38% spike in imports, driven by panic buying ahead of Trump’s tariffs, carved nearly five full percentage points off GDP. Businesses scrambled to get ahead of the new duties, flooding warehouses with goods that now sit idle as consumer spending slows to a crawl.
And slow it has. Household spending rose just 0.5% in Q1, the weakest number since the early pandemic era. After running the economy hot for months, American consumers are cooling off—facing higher prices, growing uncertainty, and the early signs of what some are now calling stagflation.
None of this is accidental. This is the outcome of policy. The Trump administration’s tariff-first approach was sold as a way to bring back jobs, punish foreign producers, and “protect American industry.” But what it’s doing—once again—is kneecapping growth, punishing consumers, and introducing chaos into supply chains that were already under strain.
🥫 Sprague Foods Hits Mainstream Shelves, Rides Buy Canadian Wave
Belleville’s century old Sprague Foods is now stocked in major Canadian grocery chains like Loblaws and Walmart, riding a wave of “buy Canadian” momentum sparked by the U.S. tariff fight. Once a quiet cannery selling beans and soups through independent grocers, Sprague is now part of a broader consumer shift driven by the ongoing trade standoff. Shoppers are snapping up Sprague’s bean and soup lines as a small gesture of economic patriotism—surging demand that’s turning a niche cannery into a national staple.
The company’s president, Rick Sprague, says never before in 60 years has he seen such consistent customer gratitude—hand written notes, bulk purchases, and campaigns to expand shelf space. As one Redditor summed it: “I am now on a mission to buy as many Canadian products as I can… I’m telling my friends, I’m telling my family.”
Sprague’s lines—Campfire Baked Beans, Triple Bean Chili, and gluten-free soups—are made in recyclable, BPA-free packaging, highlighting a focus on both quality and Canadian ingredients. It’s a reminder that the effects of economic nationalism aren’t limited to the headlines. They show up in small towns, on store shelves, and sometimes in the soup aisle.
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