Updated August 28, 2026, reflects the August 25 $7.5B package
Tariff Relief Programs in CanadaEvery Program, Verified, on One Page
Canadian businesses hit by tariffs can access up to $3M in non-repayable RTRI funding, the new $2B Canada Strong Diversification Fund, BDC loans of $250K to $5M at 0% for the first year, CanExport, duty remission, and workforce supports. This page compares all of them, with the caps, deadlines, and stacking rules the announcements leave out.
Free, reviewed by a specialist within one business day
$3M
Max non-repayable per business via RTRI, effective September 2026
~$32B
Federal tariff support deployed since 2025, including the August 25 package
90%
Max total government coverage of eligible costs when programs stack
The Situation
What Changed, and What Changes Next
Five dates decide what your business can claim and when. Three of them are still ahead of you.
August 22, 2026
US imposes 50% tariffs on $27.6B of Canadian goods
Washington's new round of tariffs took effect after trade negotiations were suspended, hitting a wide range of Canadian products.
August 25, 2026
Ottawa answers with a $7.5B support package
Five measures: an expanded RTRI, the new $2B Canada Strong Diversification Fund, a second BDC liquidity stream, a merged workforce program, and LETL flexibilities. On top of roughly $25B deployed over the prior 18 months.
August 31, 2026Ahead
CanExport 2026-27 intake closes at 12:00 pm ET
The last window this fiscal year to fund new-market entry costs at up to $50K. The US stream is already closed.
September 1, 2026Ahead
EDC expands the Trade Impact Program
Announced August 27: EDC takes on more risk, adds a $700M direct financing envelope, and points the program at the SMEs hit hardest by the new tariffs.
September 8, 2026Ahead
Canadian counter-tariffs begin
Dollar-for-dollar, rate-for-rate countermeasures on $27.6B of American goods at 15, 25 and 50 per cent. If you import US inputs, your costs move on this date, and the remission framework becomes your file to open.
September 2026Ahead
RTRI non-repayable cap triples to $3M
The cap rises from $1M to $3M, and demonstrated liquidity need becomes an eligible use for the first time, up to $2M. Applications prepared now land as the new caps take effect.
Program Matcher
Start With Your Problem, Not a Program List
Ten programs is a lot of reading. Pick the thing keeping you up at night and see only what applies.
Tariffs priced you out of US customers and you need new markets to sell into.
Start hereRTRINon-repayable + interest-free loan$5M to $10M by region
Market diversification and productivity projects are exactly what RTRI funds, and the first $3M can be money you keep.
Incorporated Alberta businesses actively courting non-US buyers
Open
Figures last verified August 28, 2026 against the official program sources linked in each section below. Regional agencies set their own thresholds within RTRI.
The Programs in Detail
The numbers the announcements leave out, with a link to the official source for each program so you can check every figure yourself.
Non-repayable + interest-free loanOpen, closes when funds are committed
Regional Tariff Response Initiative
Canada's 7 regional development agencies · $5M to $10M by region
Up to $5M per project through PrairiesCan at 50% of eligible costs, with up to $3M of it non-repayable effective September 2026, and repayable ceilings reaching $10M at agencies like FedDev Ontario and PacifiCan. Demonstrated liquidity need becomes an eligible use in September, up to $2M.
The program totals $3.45 billion over four years. That figure already includes the $1.5 billion added on August 25, a detail some coverage double counts.
Minimum funding request of $500K through PrairiesCan, so Prairie projects start around $1M in total cost. Regional caps differ sharply: FedDev Ontario runs $125K to $10M repayable or up to $1M non-repayable, and PacifiCan lends interest-free up to $10M per project (published caps, still showing the pre-September non-repayable figure).
The $3M non-repayable portion is carved out of the $5M ceiling, not added on top. The repayable balance is normally interest-free: a 1-year grace period after project completion, then 60 equal monthly payments, with final terms set in each contribution agreement.
Cost share differs by stream and region: the non-repayable stream covers up to 50% of costs everywhere that publishes a rate, while the repayable stream reaches 75% at FedDev Ontario, PacifiCan, FedNor and CED.
Qualify by showing at least 25% of sales in tariff-affected markets, or by documenting impact: higher input costs, lost orders, supply disruption. ACOA and CanNor accept indirect impact explicitly, and PacifiCan accepts a high likelihood of impact.
Proof of matching money also differs: PrairiesCan wants every other funding source confirmed at application, while FedDev Ontario confirms matching within 30 days after approval.
Costs are claimable retroactively up to 12 months before you apply, back to March 21, 2025 at the earliest.
PrairiesCan accepts applications until December 31, 2027 or until funds are committed. Projects must finish by March 31, 2028.
Applicants are normally limited to one RTRI project, though rules vary by agency, and the non-repayable stream can be accessed once. Scope it properly the first time.
Steel businesses have a dedicated $150M envelope within RTRI.
Our take
The anchor program for any established business with a real tariff response to fund. If you only apply to one thing on this page, this is it.
Contribution (stream of the Strategic Response Fund)Announced August 25, 2026, intake ramping up via the regional agencies
Canada Strong Diversification Fund
Strategic Response Fund, intake via regional development agencies · $2B fund
A new $2 billion stream of the Strategic Response Fund, created August 25, 2026 for tariff-impacted companies with shovel-ready capital maintenance projects. Medium-sized firms are explicitly included.
Targets shovel-ready projects supporting ongoing capital maintenance, unusually broad language for a federal fund.
Runs intake and triage through regional development agency programming, so it feels procedurally adjacent to RTRI.
A fast-track, one-step review and approval process is being implemented in place of the usual expression-of-interest-plus-application sequence.
Look at it alongside RTRI rather than instead of it: overlapping scopes get caught in triage, distinct projects can run in parallel.
Our take
If you postponed equipment replacement or facility work during the tariff squeeze, get your project into the regional agency queue early. Funds this size are committed, not spent evenly.
Business Development Bank of Canada · $250K to $5M
Working capital loans of $250K to $5M through the liquidity stream: 0% interest for the first 12 months, interest-only payments for 36 months, amortization over 96 months. A second $500M liquidity envelope opened August 25, 2026, with pivot and equipment financing streams running alongside.
The annual revenue floor was lowered to $1 million on August 25, 2026, which also applies to BDC's targeted steel, aluminum and forestry programs.
The quieter gates: at least 3 years in business and historically positive cash flow. The liquidity stream wants 15%+ of sales from US exports plus tariffs equal to at least 5% of revenue; the pivot and equipment streams accept either the export test or a documented 10% tariff-driven revenue drop or cost increase.
Pivot to Grow runs three streams (liquidity, pivot, equipment financing) and is available until March 31, 2028. Existing BDC exporter clients can also request a six-month principal payment deferral.
The liquidity stream carries a sunset clause: it terminates automatically if the August 2026 US tariffs are repealed or suspended.
This is debt, not a contribution. Debt generally sits outside grant stacking limits, unlike contributions, but each program's own rules decide, so confirm treatment with the granting agency when running it alongside RTRI or the Diversification Fund.
Our take
The right tool when the problem is timing. Take the cheap bridge now, and use the runway to build a grant-funded fix so you are not still carrying the debt problem in two years.
Non-repayableCloses August 31, 2026 at 12:00 pm ET (2026-27 intake, non-US markets)
CanExport SMEs
Trade Commissioner Service, Global Affairs Canada · $50K per project
Between $10,000 and $50,000 in funding at a 50% cost share for entering new export markets: trade events, international travel, market research, marketing adaptation, expert advice, and IP protection. The 2026-27 intake closes August 31, 2026 at 12:00 pm ET.
The US stream is closed: the $3.1M allocated to US-targeting projects was fully spent, and no new US-market applications are being accepted. A project may target up to 5 non-US markets, never the US and another market together.
The 2026-27 eligibility floor rose: 3 to 500 full-time employees and $300K to $100M in annual revenue, up from 1 employee and $100K. Incorporated, for-profit, with a CRA business number. Product certification, registration fees, advertising and SEO are no longer eligible costs.
Agri-food, alcohol, and fish and seafood exporters moved to the AgriMarketing Program's market diversification stream; agtech and food technology remain eligible here.
Defence and dual-use technology projects get priority treatment this cycle, in line with the Defence Industrial Strategy.
The program decides whether you get a grant (paid up front, you report on results) or a contribution (you spend, then claim). Decisions aim for 60 business days, and applications are assessed on a rolling competitive basis while funding lasts.
Stacks cleanly with RTRI: CanExport funds the market entry, RTRI funds the productive capacity behind it.
Our take
Small dollars next to RTRI, but strong odds for a federal program: roughly 40% of eligible applicants were approved in 2025-26. The natural first move of a diversification plan. If the deadline has passed when you read this, prepare for the next window; the 2026-27 intake opened February 4, 2026.
Refund of duties paidOngoing, remission requests assessed continuously
Duty Remission and Duty Drawback
Department of Finance / Canada Border Services Agency · No cap
Recover Canadian counter-tariff surtaxes you have already paid. The Finance Canada remission framework covers inputs you cannot source domestically, and the CBSA Duty Drawback program refunds duties on imported goods you later export.
Remission applies where a US input cannot reasonably be sourced from Canada or a non-US supplier, or where exceptional circumstances make the surtax severely damaging. Canada-registered companies request it through Finance Canada.
Generally available remission already exists at the border: eligible steel and aluminum manufacturing inputs and public-health goods can clear with special authority codes, no application needed, for imports before July 1, 2027.
Drawback refunds duties, including surtaxes, on imported goods that are subsequently exported, as-is or built into a finished product. Claims go through the CARM portal, with a look-back of up to 4 years. You cannot claim drawback and the Duties Relief Program on the same goods, so pick the one that fits your flow.
The timing matters: most 2025 counter-tariffs on US goods were removed September 1, 2025, but steel, aluminum and autos kept theirs, and new 15/25/50% counter-tariffs on $27.6B of US goods begin September 8, 2026.
This is not a grant program. It is recovering your own money, which makes it the highest-certainty line item in a tariff response plan.
Our take
If you import tariffed US inputs, quantify this first. Recovered surtaxes are real cash with no project obligations attached, and they strengthen the impact story every other application on this page asks for.
A $5 billion envelope helping exporters absorb tariff losses and reach new markets: credit insurance on foreign receivables, financing guarantees that unlock bank lending, and foreign exchange facility guarantees.
Delivered through EDC's named products: Portfolio Credit Insurance, the Export Guarantee Program, the Trade Expansion Lending Program, and Foreign Exchange Facility Guarantees. About $3 billion has been deployed across 6,000+ transactions since March 2025.
Expanding September 1, 2026: EDC announced on August 27 that it will take on more risk, focus on the SMEs hit hardest by the new US tariffs, and add a $700 million direct financing envelope.
Works through your bank in most cases, so start the conversation with your account manager and EDC together.
Not a grant: it prices risk. Its job in a tariff plan is making banks comfortable financing your diversification.
Our take
Worth a call the moment new-market orders start landing. Insured receivables and guaranteed facilities are often the difference between taking a big first foreign order and declining it.
A $1 billion lending program for agriculture and food businesses hit by trade disruption: additional credit lines up to $500K, new term loans, and deferral options on existing FCC loans.
Open to existing FCC customers and new clients across the agriculture and food value chain who meet FCC's lending criteria, and extended until March 5, 2027.
Primary producers largely sit outside RTRI, which points to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada programming. FCC support and AgriStability, with its raised 90% compensation rate and doubled $6M payment cap for 2025, are the working alternatives.
For processors, this stacks under a bigger plan: FCC liquidity now, RTRI or Diversification Fund capital projects next.
Our take
The agri-food answer to BDC's program. If your lender is already FCC, the deferral conversation is the cheapest liquidity available to you.
EI wage top-up + grantsOpen, tariff special measures run to March 31, 2027
Workforce Retention and Retraining Program
Employment and Social Development Canada · $15K per worker
The EI Work-Sharing program and the Worker Retention Grant, merged August 25, 2026 into one offering: employees work reduced hours while EI tops up wages, employers receive $5,000 to $15,000 per retained worker, plus up to $1,000 per participant for training and administrative costs.
Tariff special measures relax the usual Work-Sharing rules through March 31, 2027, with agreements running up to 76 weeks.
The Worker Retention Grant pays employers $5,000 to $15,000 per retained worker, lifting income replacement from 55% to roughly 70% of normal wages. Under its pre-merger rules, applications close December 31, 2026 at 3:00 pm ET with grant weeks running no later than March 31, 2027; watch for updated program guidance.
Worker-side EI measures were extended in the August 25 package: the one-week waiting period stays waived for another year, workers can collect EI before exhausting severance, and long-tenured workers keep access to additional weeks.
Alongside it, the $570M Workforce Tariff Response funds retraining for up to 66,000 workers in tariff-hit industries through the provinces, including $68.5M for Alberta.
The math your CFO should run: Work-Sharing on a 30% hour reduction versus severance, rehiring, and retraining costs when demand returns.
Our take
If layoffs are on the whiteboard, price this first. Losing a certified welder to a competitor during a six-month trough costs far more than the paperwork.
A $10 billion federal loan facility for large employers whose access to conventional credit has tightened. The August 25 package extended liquidity coverage from 24 to 36 months of need and stretched maximum terms from 10 to 15 years.
Eligibility starts around $150 million in annual Canadian revenue (lowered from $300 million in September 2025), with significant operations or workforce in Canada.
The 36-month coverage and 15-year terms come from the August 25 announcement; CEEFC's posted factsheet may still show the earlier 24-month and 10-year figures until it is refreshed.
A large-employer instrument with conditions to match: most SMEs are better served by RTRI, the Diversification Fund, or BDC.
Included here because supply chains are ecosystems: if your anchor customer is wobbling, this facility existing is relevant to your forecast.
Our take
Most readers of this page will never apply. Know it exists, and know your biggest customer might be using it.
Up to $15,000 per fiscal year covering travel and trade show costs for Alberta businesses developing export markets. Small, fast, and repeatable, and it stacks with CanExport on the same expansion plan.
Requires a permanent physical presence in Alberta for at least one year.
Paid after travel on a reimbursement basis: $400 per day for the first traveller and $200 for a second, covering event days plus two travel days.
Elsewhere: Saskatchewan exporters work through the STEP trade organization, and Ontario's $50M Ontario Together Trade Fund runs continuous intake at up to $5M per project.
Our take
Not life-changing money, but free money for trips you were taking anyway. Every Alberta exporter running a diversification plan should hold an active AEEP file.
Grant Metal Products, a Rocky View County steel fabricator, hit a US-tariff supply chain crisis in 2025. Instead of one application, we structured three that cover different costs and therefore stack: tariff response capital, energy funding, and export development.
Total government support can reach 90% of eligible costs on commercial projects, but stacking limits are enforced program by program. The sequencing, and keeping project scopes genuinely distinct, is the actual work. Their RTRI file was capped at the old $1M non-repayable limit; that cap is $3M from September 2026.
Fabrication line modernization, at the old $1M cap
$1,000,000
ERA SEMI energy funding
Energy management across production
$1,000,000
CanExport
New-market development
$27,000
Non-dilutive total
$2,027,000
Production efficiency up 150%. Headcount grew from roughly 38 to about 50.
Who This Funding Is Actually For
Program officers fund businesses that were healthy before the tariffs and have a credible plan after them. Here is the honest fit test.
Built for you if
Incorporated in Canada with at least 2 complete years of financial statements
1 to 499 employees and financially viable before the tariffs hit (pre March 21, 2025)
Tariff impact you can document: lost orders, higher input costs, or supply disruption
A response worth funding: a project of $1M or more, or a six-figure liquidity need
Prepared to co-invest: the flagship non-repayable streams cover up to 50% of eligible costs, and only some repayable streams reach 75%
A different path if
Pre-revenue startups: the tariff programs require trading history. Start with IRAP and SR&ED instead. IRAP guide
Primary agricultural producers: RTRI points you to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada programming, and FCC covers liquidity.
Projects under roughly $200K: the flagship programs have minimums. CanExport and provincial export programs are the right size. CanExport guide
Somewhere in between? That is what the two-minute check is for. If the honest answer is that nothing here fits yet, we say so.
Tariff Funding Questions, Answered
The questions businesses actually ask us, with numbers in the answers.
The major federal programs are the Regional Tariff Response Initiative (up to $5M per project, up to $3M non-repayable from September 2026), the $2B Canada Strong Diversification Fund, BDC Pivot to Grow loans ($250K to $5M at 0% for the first year), CanExport SMEs (up to $50K for new export markets), the EDC Trade Impact Program ($5B in financing and insurance), duty remission and drawback, and Work-Sharing with tariff flexibilities. Provinces add export programs on top, such as Alberta's AEEP.
Both exist, and the label matters. RTRI and CanExport include genuinely non-repayable money. BDC, FCC, EDC and LETL are debt or risk instruments: cheaper and faster, but repaid. Duty remission is neither, it is a refund of surtaxes you already paid. A strong tariff response usually sequences all three kinds rather than picking one.
Through RTRI alone, up to $3 million effective September 2026, carved out of PrairiesCan's $5 million per-project ceiling at 50% of eligible costs. Stacked with programs like CanExport, provincial export support, and energy funding, total government support can reach 90% of eligible project costs, though stacking limits are enforced program by program.
Yes, as of September 2026. The expanded RTRI makes demonstrated liquidity need an eligible use, up to $2 million, and BDC's Pivot to Grow liquidity stream lends $250K to $5M for working capital with a simplified application. Before this change, tariff funding effectively required a forward-looking project.
For RTRI, show at least 25% of sales in tariff-affected markets, or document specific harm: increased input costs, lost orders or customers, supply chain disruption, or employment impacts. Build the evidence file first, month-over-month, in dollars and percentages, with source documents. Every program on this page draws on the same impact file.
Often, yes. RTRI accepts documented indirect impact, such as a manufacturer whose input costs rose or whose Canadian customers cut orders under tariff pressure. Adjudication does prioritize clear, quantified impact, so indirect claims need stronger documentation, not weaker.
Possibly. The Department of Finance remission framework can return Canadian counter-tariff surtaxes where inputs cannot reasonably be sourced outside the US or where the surtax causes severe harm, and CBSA's Duty Drawback program refunds duties on imported goods you subsequently export. RTRI also reimburses eligible response costs retroactively up to 12 months before application, back to March 21, 2025.
The Workforce Retention and Retraining Program, created August 25, 2026, merges EI Work-Sharing with the Worker Retention Grant: employees work reduced hours while EI tops up wages, employers receive $5,000 to $15,000 per retained worker, and up to $1,000 per participant covers training and administration. Worker-side EI flexibilities were also extended, including the waived one-week waiting period.
CanExport's 2026-27 intake closes August 31, 2026 at 12:00 pm ET. Canadian counter-tariffs begin September 8, 2026, which starts the clock on remission planning. The RTRI cap increase lands in September 2026, and RTRI intake closes when funds are committed, not on the published date of December 31, 2027. The envelopes are finite and eligibility just expanded, so earlier files face less competition.
No. Every program on this page can be applied to directly, and the official links are provided. Businesses hire us for the same reason they hire accountants at tax time: we know which programs stack, what program officers ask for, and how to sequence applications. Our clients typically pursue several programs at once, like the manufacturer that combined RTRI, energy funding and CanExport into $2M+.
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