GPI Tariff Statement

September 21, 2026

The Glass Packaging Institute, the trade association of the North American container glass industry, is strongly encouraging all parties to resume negotiations on the US-Canada trade dispute. In addition, as members of the Toasts Not Tariffs Coalition, we support the coalition's call for a de-escalation of reciprocal tariffs on beverage alcohol and encourage both countries to restore access to beer, wine and spirits from their neighboring country. These tariffs and product bans are a force multiplier that ripples through the supply chain for those products, adding to the impact on the glass industry of North America and our supply chain of raw materials and packaging.

For over a hundred years, glass manufacturers in the US and Canada have operated as an integrated supply chain, with each plant focused on producing specialty containers that other plants do not supply. This supply chain cannot be reconfigured overnight. The escalating trade dispute threatens both American and Canadian manufacturers, workers, and their supply chain – while opening the door to further imports from China, jeopardizing domestic manufacturing investment.

U.S. spirits exports to Canada have fallen more than 70% since American spirits were removed from most Canadian store shelves, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), which has warned of the economic harm the ongoing dispute is causing U.S. distillers and the businesses and workers that support them.

For the North American glass container industry, the connection is direct. When wine and spirits producers sell less product, they need fewer bottles. GPI is also seeing new evidence of another unintended consequence of the escalating dispute. Brands that cannot afford the tariffed containers are temporarily shifting their glass sourcing to Asian imports rather than absorbing the additional tariff costs.

That shift is increasingly visible in the data. Imports from China in the 750mL-sized glass bottle category, a key size for wine and spirits, increased significantly year over year in April, May and June, with growth accelerating during this three-month period. Meanwhile, GPI industry data shows a double-digit decrease year to date in shipments from U.S. glass container plants to both wine and spirits markets, with spirits shipments down 11% and wine shipments down 15%.

Permanently shifting production to a different North American glass container plant cannot happen overnight, leaving companies needing bottles now to seek other available sources. If those pressures continue, what began as a short-term sourcing decision may have longer-term consequences for the competitiveness of North American glass container manufacturing.

The stakes are clear: while American glass manufacturers are shipping fewer bottles to U.S. wine and spirits markets, overseas suppliers are gaining ground.

“When you target wine and spirits for tariffs, you harm the glass industry and American and Canadian jobs. We are seeing the real-world impact of this dispute on North American manufacturing,” said Scott DeFife, president of the Glass Packaging Institute. “Combined with what we are hearing from brands about temporary sourcing shifts, the import data makes it increasingly clear that an escalating tariff battle between the U.S. and Canada detrimental to companies and workers operating in both countries.” The recent data shows this dispute only has one winner, as imports of empty containers from China are now nearly fully recovered from the decreases that were intended by the Section 301 tariffs that the Administration imposed on them in order to battle the structural economic support that should be the primary focus of tariff policy. GPI supports targeted tariffs focused on specific market issues, but as many manufacturing and agricultural industries have commented recently, escalating retaliatory tariffs on North American trading partners can be counter-productive to domestic industries.

GPI urges officials in both countries to swiftly reach a resolution that restores market access for all packaged alcohol, protects the North American glass supply chain and returns to the mutual benefits of tariff-free trade under USMCA.