MONTREAL - The head of the Sour Puss liqueur brand says he had no choice but to move part of the production line north of the border to Montreal amid the Canada-U.S. trade war.

Andy England, chief executive of Phillips Distilling Co., says it lost virtually all of its business in Canada after U.S. President Donald Trump set off a tariff tit-for-tat that prompted provincial alcohol distributors to clear their shelves of American booze.

“In March, when the trade war began, we were suddenly removed from store shelves in most Canadian provinces,” England said in an interview. “We literally lost our business in Canada.”

Nearly 98 per cent of the one million Sour Puss bottles sold by the company last year were in Canada, amounting to Canadian sales of $23 million, the CEO said.

The Minnesota

See Full Page