They've banned all US alcohol since March of last year.

The initial tariffs against Canada and Mexico were imposed in February of last year. The bans on alcohol in several of the provinces were imposed in response to that.

That's what I thought. Not 1 millimeter. Shoot, not even a micron.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. This is Trump's strategy choice - he came out literally in the first two weeks of his Administration and decided to unilaterally impose tariffs on Canada. There have, of course, been trade disputes with Canada (and Mexico and almost every other country we do serious trade with) for decades and decades, with various degrees of debate. But Trump threw out the old playbook entirely, and rather than have discussions or negotiations about trade issues he decided to implement a unilateral 25% across-the-board tariff against Canada.

He's the one that chose this particular way of dealing with trade with Canada, and that's what prompted Canada's responses. Both initially in Spring of 2025, and all of the times since then. It's his "negotiating" style - one where no arrangement is finalized or settled, where any concession made to the other party can be retraded at any time or unilaterally abrogated. That's what's leading Canada to start playing this particular style of hardball in return. If your negotiating style involves unilateral imposition of massive tariffs across billions of dollars of goods, then your counterparty is likely to adopt a similar style of negotiation.

So I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. That Canada somehow deserved to be treated shabbily in the method and means of resolving any trade disputes? That they somehow caused Trump to impose a unilateral 25% punitive tariff - something unprecedented in U.S. trade policy - in lieu of other methods of negotiation? I'm not sure I see any basis for that.

If your approach to international trade is to shoot first with big unilateral tariffs, you can't be surprised that your counterparties start incorporating big unilateral moves into their own approach. It's a very aggressive and hostile approach, but once you've chosen it, it's too be expected that others will follow suit.