HALIFAX — Prince Edward Island is set to sell off its existing stockpile of American alcohol and donate the net profits to island food banks.

Finance Minister Jill Burridge said in an interview Wednesday that there is an estimated $3.2 million worth of U.S. booze stockpiled, which she expects to net roughly $600,000 in profits.

That money will be extended to food banks across the island beginning in January, with further donations every month as the stock is sold off.

Prince Edward Island, along with the rest of the country, pulled U.S. booze from liquor store shelves in February in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

“As far as the tariffs are concerned, we found ourselves in this place that was kind of a negative,” Burridge says. “It’s nice to see a little positive come out of these things.”

Being able to donate the money to island food banks is a net positive, Burridge says, especially as those organizations help many residents at this time of year.

P.E.I. is the latest province to announce plans to sell off its American stockpile and donate the proceeds, following Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

At this point Burridge says there is no plan to reorder American alcohol once the stockpile is gone.

“It’s more of a national conversation,” Burridge says. “It’s the Team Canada approach, that’s how the message was delivered in February. It was all the provinces looking to stand shoulder to shoulder on this.”

As Canadian provinces stopped importing U.S. alcohol, Burridge says there were conversations provincially about increasing interprovincial trade. Burridge says she is in talks with her counterparts in other provinces, and the provincial liquor commissions are also “working through the details” of any potential trade.

The province says U.S. booze will be back on liquor store shelves Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2025.

Emily Baron Cadloff, The Canadian Press