In early March 2025, claims circulated online that the popular whiskey brand Jack Daniel's laid off employees because of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of 25% tariffs on trade with Canada.
Users on social media platforms including X (archived) and TikTok (archived) expressed their opinions about the claim. One popular post on X (archived) said, "Jack Daniels laid off 650 employees… As Canada empties their shelves of all American liquor. Great (?)."
While the parent company of the Jack Daniel's whiskey brand, Brown-Forman, did indeed lay off workers in early 2025, the reduction in force was announced before Trump's inauguration and before any tariffs went into effect.
On Jan. 14, 2025, Brown-Forman announced a "series of strategic initiatives for growth" that included "implementing a workforce reduction affecting approximately 12% of the company's global workforce, and closing the Louisville-based Brown‑Forman Cooperage."
A statement on its website read:
To enhance operational efficiency and agility, Brown‑Forman has made the difficult decision to reduce its global workforce by approximately 12% of its 5,400 employees worldwide. Brown‑Forman is deeply committed to supporting departing employees with comprehensive transition agreements that include severance, outplacement services, and other benefits to help them through this career change.
This organizational evolution will simplify and streamline Brown‑Forman's structure, allowing it to become a more agile and efficient organization and reinvest in the capabilities, technologies, brands, and people that will drive future growth.
The statement was published Jan. 14, 2025, six days before Trump's inauguration and the resulting back-and-forth on proposed tariffs for trade from countries including Canada, Mexico and China.
If Trump's tariffs did play a role in the company's decision-making process, the timeline suggests it was a preemptive decision rather than a reactive one.
News reports about the layoffs cited other factors affecting the alcohol beverage industry. According to CNN:
The announcement comes a few weeks after the US Surgeon General issued a warning that alcohol consumption can increase the risk of cancer and called for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages.
Following a pandemic peak in 2020 through 2022, spirit companies have been contending with slowing sales. Brown-Forman first sounded the alarm in 2023 when it reported whiskey sales were falling — a stark contrast compared to a year prior when they were soaring by double-digit percentage points.
Financial struggles for the industry began earlier than January 2025. In November 2024, CNN reported that alcohol sales in the United States were trending downward, according to the IWSR, a research firm self-described as the "leading global drinks data and analytics provider":
Overall volumes fell 3% for the first seven months of 2024, which was more than forecasted, according to a report from drink analysis firm IWSR. All major categories were affected including tequila, American whiskey, beer and wine.
[…]
The declines are a "normalization" within the industry, with alcohol sales nearing their pre-Covid levels, according to Marten Lodewijks, IWSR's president for the US division. Inflation and customers cutting back on discretionary spending also hurt bottlers' bottom lines.
Following Trump's initiation of his tariffs on March 4, 2025, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced it would "take operational steps to implement restrictions on all U.S. beverage alcohol sales and related imports into Ontario, effective immediately." This included removing American booze from shelves.
In a news release, the LCBO said:
LCBO has ceased the purchase of all U.S. products, retail customers are no longer able to purchase U.S. products on lcbo.com and the LCBO app, and wholesale customers, including grocery and convenience stores, bars, restaurants, and other retailers, are no longer able to place orders of U.S. products online.
Furthermore, spirits, wine, cider, beer, ready-to-drink coolers/cocktails, and non-alcoholic products produced in the U.S. will no longer be available in our retail stores or LCBO Convenience Outlets.
Our in-store teams can help customers find alternative products from our extensive selection of products from Ontario, Canada, and around the world.
LCBO is the importer of record for all U.S. alcohol products into Ontario, with annual sales of up to $965 million. We currently list more than 3,600 products from 35 U.S. states. U.S. products will not be purchased by LCBO until the LCBO is directed to resume normal business.
On March 6, 2025, CNN and Fortune reported that the CEO of Brown-Forman, Lawson Whiting, criticized the decision to remove product from Canadian shelves during an earnings call with shareholders: "That's worse than a tariff because it's literally taking your sales away, [and] completely removing our products from the shelves… That's a very disproportionate response to a 25% tariff."
Further, Whiting said that Canada accounted for 1% of the company's sales.
Brown-Forman has not responded to inquiries about the layoffs and whether Trump's tariffs — which were not yet in effect at the time the layoffs were announced — actually played a role in the decision, but this article will be updated should a response be received.