Jack Daniel's layoffs announced before Canadian liquor stores removed products

"Jack Daniels has to fire hundreds of workers due to Canada pulling them off the shelves," said a March 11, 2025 Facebook post.

"Nice job Donald!" says a post on Instagram sharing an image reading, "Jack Daniels laid off 650 employees....As Canada empties their shelves of all American liquor."

Similar posts were shared elsewhere on Facebook, X and TikTok implied job losses or plant closures for the Tennessee whiskey brand were supposedly related to its removal from Canadian stores. 

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Screenshot of a Facebook post taken March 13, 2025

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Screenshot of an X post taken March 12, 2025

North America has been roiled by tariff threats from the United States directed at Canada and Mexico, with Trump often saying his country is not getting a fair deal from trade relationships. Despite questionable reasoning for why the duties should be put in place, after a one-month delay, the American president went through with a tariff order on the United States' neighbors on March 4 before adding exemptions for certain products.

Canada retaliated with its own tariffs on some US goods, while several provinces also directed their publicly controlled liquor stores to remove American products.

Officials in Canada have maintained that the United States' tariffs are an attempt to sabotage the Canadian economy. Meanwhile boycotts of American products and "buy Canadian" campaigns have sprouted up around the country.

Inaccurate claims about Canada's existing tariffs have spread online and posts asserting the removal of Jack Daniel's from Canadian liquor stores shelves caused the company to let some employees go are similarly misleading.

Brown-Forman, the parent company of Jack Daniel's, said the loss of Canadian sales -- including from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), one of the largest alcohol purchasers in the world -- would be worse for its company than a tariff. However, it did not announce any layoffs directly related to this loss of revenue. 

Brown-Forman released a statement on January 14 saying it would be downsizing its workforce by 12 percent (archived here) and shuttering a barrel plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

"It was shared in mid-January and not a reaction to tariffs," said Elizabeth Conway, a spokeswoman for Brown-Forman, in a March 12 email.

Conway said the company was also preparing for different scenarios while navigating the evolving trade situation.

The job cuts come amid weak sales of distilled spirits, notably after the end of the pandemic, and a US Surgeon General's report highlighting potential risks of even moderate alcohol consumption.

Products in storage

Several posts also claimed the LCBO only pays for liquor once it sells and that the provincial board was returning all its American alcohol products. 

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Screenshot of a Facebook post taken March 12, 2025

The regulator said this is also incorrect.

"Products available in store or online have been purchased by the LCBO," the agency told AFP in March 12 email. "At the direction of the Government of Ontario, we have stopped purchasing all US products and US products are no longer available for sale. Products will be stored until further notice."

Canada kept its retaliatory trade measures on US goods in place after exemptions went into effect and responded in-kind with duties on additional American products after Trump announced sweeping tariffs on aluminum and steel on March 12.

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.