BOSTON, September 19 — Massachusetts Treasurer Deb Goldberg accused President Donald Trump of playing a “game” with tariffs, telling a press call hosted by the nonprofit For the Long Term that the trade fight is putting livelihoods at risk. “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,” Goldberg said on the call, where she was joined by alcoholic beverage business leaders who described instability in their industry that could impede tax revenues. Goldberg’s office oversees the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, the state regulator that sits at the center of the tariff fight and, separately, at the center of her re-election campaign.
The tariff spiral
Trump has reshaped U.S. trade policy in his second term, with threatened and levied tariffs drawing retaliatory action from abroad and leaving American businesses scrambling to stabilize supply chains and absorb skyrocketing costs. Most recently, the U.S. and Canada are embroiled in an escalating trade war over various goods, including alcohol products.
In July, Trump announced a 50% levy on Canadian imports in response to what the White House called “Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American products.” After Canada retaliated — with the premier of Saskatchewan imposing a reciprocal tariff on U.S. alcohol products — Trump said he would ban the import of certain Canadian alcoholic beverages starting on Sept. 29. Trump in June 2025 raised steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, adding strain to the craft beer industry.
The Brewers Association, a trade group representing small and independent craft brewers, estimated that aluminum cans represented 75% of packaged craft beer’s volume and revenue based on early 2025 sales data. Steel tariffs are also raising costs for kegs and brewhouses, according to the Cato Institute.
Operators describe the squeeze
Scott Allen, vice president of wine and spirits importer and distributor M.S. Walker, said his company is deciding to stop manufacturing certain products since consumers “just will not tolerate these price increases.” He thanked Goldberg, saying she listens to “our concerns day in and day out” and is able to “efficiently act on some of our decisions and some of our requests.” Goldberg emphasized the tiered nature of the alcoholic beverage industry, with tariffs sparking cascading effects on 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,” Goldberg said. “So overall, as state treasurer, I am also very worried about general revenues coming into the state and us being able to sustain the job that government has to do.”
Pay-to-play fight shadows the race
The treasurer’s oversight of the ABCC has become a point of contention on the campaign trail as Goldberg faces a challenge from Republican candidate Elizabeth Dionne this November.
Dionne has publicly accused Goldberg of allegedly engaging in a “pay to play” scheme with the ABCC — though she has not offered evidence — and “fundraising off the businesses she is supposed to regulate.” In a social media video in July, Dionne criticized Goldberg for hosting a fundraiser with House Speaker Ron Mariano, as well as the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of Massachusetts and Beer Distributors of Massachusetts.
Dionne again raised pay-to-play allegations against Goldberg during an appearance on WCVB’s “On the Record” show over the weekend and said Goldberg has accepted over $100,000 in donations from industries she “directly controls.” When pressed on whether she has any pay-to-play evidence, Dionne replied, “We are working on that right now.” She added, “I’m not prepared to say that it’s happening, but we’ve had multiple people say that it is, and that we need to look into it.
So we are trying.” Chris Keohan, a senior advisor to Goldberg’s campaign, said “of course” a pay-to-play scheme isn’t happening. “There’s over 50,000 licenses issued by the ABCC,” Keohan told the News Service Wednesday.
“It’s pretty clear that a couple dozen donations do not equate even remotely close to pay to play.” Investors will note the Sept. 29 deadline on Canadian beverage imports and the November contest as the two dates that matter for the state’s alcohol revenue picture. The bottom line: a trade fight made in Washington is now a line item in Boston.
