Trump’s Canada tariffs force family-owned California winery to sell business, including 10 vineyards
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President Donald Trump's ongoing trade war with Canada has drained the life from a family-owned California winery that's being forced to close over a dramatic drop in exports to the Great White North.
McManis Family Vineyards is selling off 3,500 acres of property covered by ten vineyards and its sprawling winery in Ripon, about 50 miles east of San Francisco, in response to a Canadian boycott of American booze.
“It was a very hard decision for myself and my family,” president and co-owner Ron McManis told The Sacramento Bee in a written statement last week.
The company reportedly saw its annual shipments to Canada plunge from about 75,000 cases to just 1,000 after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on global imports to the U.S. last year, prompting the Canadian boycott.
It's also taken a huge hit on bulk sales to other wine companies that face similar challenges, according to the Bee.
The McManis family's 122-acre winery is on the market for $22.5 million, and its vineyards, spread across San Joaquin and Sacramento counties, are for sale at prices ranging $800,000 to $14 million.
The McManis brand is also available for an unspecified price that's up for negotiation, according to an online listing.
Before Trump imposed tariffs on various Canadian goods in March 2025, America’s northern neighbor was the biggest market for U.S wine exports, with $460 million worth of shipments in 2024, according to the Wine Institute, which represents the California wine industry.
Resulting boycotts by Canadian provinces led to a 78 percent drop — worth $357 million — in wine exports to Canada last year, turning a $254 million U.S. trade surplus into a $90 million trade deficit, the Wine Institute said in March.
Trump has since escalated his trade war with Canada, imposing 50 percent tariffs in July on a range of products that included Canadian wine, hockey sticks and cement.
Earlier this month, Trump banned imports of Canadian alcohol, motorcycles and other products and imposed additional tariffs after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade talks — citing unfair U.S. demands — and imposed retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
Carney has since explored the possibility of aligning his country with the European Union, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden last week proposing to make Canada the EU’s first “associate member.”
A new Politico poll found that a majority of Americans — 56 percent — oppose Trump’s tariffs on Canada, with just 26 percent supporting them.
Americans also narrowly side with Carney on Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, 33 percent to 31 percent, with 35 percent undecided, Politico reported Wednesday.
