Canadian businessman and Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary is blaming the trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada for the temporary closure of a Jim Beam distillery.
Jim Beam, one of the largest makers of American whiskey globally, announced it will halt production at its Clermont, Kentucky, distillery for one year, starting on January 1, 2026. The bourbon whiskey brand plans to “invest in site enhancements” during the closure, according to a statement.
The announcement comes as U.S. spirit exports to Canada are declining, with many Canadians boycotting American liquor in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his suggestion that the nation should be the 51st state.
When NewsNation asked O’Leary about the Kentucky distillery’s temporary closure, he labeled the issue a “specific problem” and called on Canadian and U.S. officials to find common ground.
“Canada needs to get in a much more cooperative mode, and the U.S. has to get much more cooperative mode with Canada, because Canada has all the natural resources the U.S. needs. Water, paper, rare earth, commodities of all kinds all priced in U.S. dollars, gold, silver, you name it, they got it” O’Leary told the network.
“There shouldn’t be any tariffs between those two countries,” he later added.
In a follow-up post on X, O’Leary called the situation a “self-inflicted mess” and said that “playing tariff games between neighbors is stupid and completely unnecessary.”
“When a major bourbon producer shuts down for a year, that’s not the market talking, that’s politics getting in the way of common sense,” O’Leary wrote.
“There shouldn’t be tariffs between allies. This hurts businesses on both sides of the border,” he added.
U.S. spirit exports to Canada plummeted 85 percent in the second quarter of 2025, while total U.S. spirit exports dropped nine percent compared to last year, according to an October report by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Chris Swonger, the organization’s CEO, blamed the drop on “persistent trade tensions.”
“There’s a growing concern that our international consumers are increasingly opting for domestically produced spirits or imports from countries other than the U.S., signaling a shift away from our great American spirits brands,” he said in a statement.
The president continues to claim his tariffs are the best way forward for the American economy. Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday morning, “The TARIFFS are responsible for the GREAT USA Economic Numbers JUST ANNOUNCED…AND THEY WILL ONLY GET BETTER!”
While Jim Beam is temporarily closing one of its distilleries, production will still continue at other locations, the company said in a statement.
“We’ve shared with our teams that while we will continue to distill at our [Freddie Booker Noe] craft distillery in Clermont and at our larger Booker Noe distillery in Boston, we plan to pause distillation at our main distillery on the James B. Beam campus for 2026 while we take the opportunity to invest in site enhancements,” the company’s statement reads.
The Independent has contacted Jim Beam for comment.
