“I feel that this whole tariff thing is a game. And it’s a game that is risking people’s lives in the sense — it’s risking their livelihoods.” Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg said that Wednesday, September 17, on a press call hosted by For the Long Term, a nonprofit that supports state and municipal financial leaders.
She was joined by alcoholic beverage business leaders who described an industry in turmoil, one that could end up cutting tax revenue for the state.
The trade fight
In July, Trump announced a 50 percent levy on Canadian imports, citing “Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American products,” according to the White House. Canada hit back, with the premier of Saskatchewan imposing a reciprocal tariff on U.S. alcohol. Trump then said he would ban certain Canadian alcoholic beverages starting September 29.
Closer to home, the June 2025 increase of steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 percent has squeezed craft brewers. The Brewers Association estimated that aluminum cans made up 75 percent of packaged craft beer’s volume and revenue, based on early 2025 sales. The Cato Institute said steel tariffs are also pushing up the cost of kegs and brewhouses.
What operators said
Chris Conrad, president of the New England distributor Martignetti Cos., said tariffs have cut earnings, with the pressure passed on to suppliers, restaurants, retailers and consumers. He praised the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission and Goldberg as “incredibly flexible and supportive” given how often the tariffs change without warning.
The flexibility is concrete. Normally, out-of-state suppliers must file prices with the commission by the first day of the prior month. Goldberg said suppliers can now ask to change prices immediately. “That allows us to make changes as we need on the fly, literally with no day’s notice,” Conrad said.
Scott Allen, vice president of the wine and spirits importer M.S. Walker, said his company is deciding to stop making certain products because consumers “just will not tolerate these price increases.”
Goldberg pointed to the layered structure of the industry, where a tariff ripples through distributors, manufacturers, retailers and local communities. “Quite often these retailers are a core part of local revenue sources, and the alcoholic beverages industry also pays an enormous amount of taxes and employs a lot of people,” she said. As treasurer, she added, she is worried about general revenues coming into the state.
The campaign angle
The treasurer’s office oversees the ABCC, which has become a point of contention in her race against Republican Elizabeth Dionne this November. Dionne has accused Goldberg of a “pay to play” scheme with the commission, though she has offered no evidence, and of “fundraising off the businesses she is supposed to regulate.”
Chris Keohan, a senior adviser to Goldberg’s campaign, said “of course” no such scheme exists. “There’s over 50,000 licenses issued by the ABCC,” he told the News Service. “It’s pretty clear that a couple dozen donations do not equate even remotely close to pay to play.”
