Ottawa has put $7.5 billion on the table for tariff-hit businesses and workers. Most owners we speak to have not heard of a single one of these programs. Here they all are.
We do not run any of these programs and we do not take a cut of them.
This is a plain-English index of federal support announced by the Government of Canada in late August 2026, with links to the official pages. Apply directly. If it saves you money and you never speak to us, that is a good outcome.
Last reviewed 10 September 2026.
Start here: which one is yours?
Cash is tight right now
Look at BDC Pivot to Grow for working capital, or the liquidity stream of the Regional Tariff Response Initiative.
You need to change what you do
The Regional Tariff Response Initiative funds pivots and capital investment with money you do not pay back.
You are trying not to lay people off
The Workforce Retention and Retraining Program and EI work-sharing are built for exactly this.
You need customers outside the US
CanExport SMEs shares the cost of entering a new export market. The intake is closed right now, so the job is to be ready for the next one.
Money for your business
Regional Tariff Response Initiative — $1.5 billion
Who it is for: small and medium-sized businesses affected by tariffs.
What you get: non-repayable contributions for capital investment, business pivots, and liquidity. The contribution cap has been raised from $1 million to $3 million, with liquidity support up to $2 million.
Who delivers it: Canada’s seven Regional Development Agencies. On Vancouver Island that means PacifiCan.
Worth noting: “non-repayable” means it is not a loan. This is the most valuable program on this page for most small businesses, and the one fewest people apply for.
BDC Pivot to Grow — $500 million new liquidity stream
Who it is for: companies with $1 million or more in annual revenue, in any sector, directly affected by tariffs. The revenue threshold was lowered specifically to let smaller firms in.
What you get: working capital loans from $250,000 to $5 million, interest-only payments for 36 months.
Who delivers it: the Business Development Bank of Canada, through a simplified application.
Canada Strong Diversification Fund — $2 billion
Who it is for: tariff-affected companies with shovel-ready capital projects, including medium-sized firms.
What you get: support for capital and maintenance projects, on a fast-tracked one-step approval.
Who delivers it: the Strategic Response Fund, with Regional Development Agencies partnering on intake.
Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility — $10 billion
Who it is for: large employers.
What you get: flexible liquidity. Coverage extended from 24 to 36 months, maximum term now 15 years.
Who delivers it: the Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation.
Money for finding customers outside the US
CanExport SMEs — up to $50,000 per project
Who it is for: small and medium-sized Canadian businesses trying to enter a new export market.
What you get: up to $50,000 per project to share the cost of getting into that market — market research, translation, international marketing, and the other costs of putting yourself in front of foreign buyers.
The catch: the most recent intake closed 31 August 2026, and applications are not open at the time of writing. There is nothing to submit today. The useful move is to have the plan finished before the next intake opens — which market, which buyers, what the entry costs — so you are applying rather than starting.
As with everything else on this page, we do not run CanExport and we take nothing from it. If you want help working out which market to name in that application, start here.
Help keeping your people
Rapid Response Supports — $3.5 billion
A set of Employment Insurance changes for tariff-affected workers and the employers trying to hold on to them:
- The one-week EI waiting period is waived, extended a further year
- EI available without first depleting separation payments, extended a further year
- Up to 20 extra weeks of EI for long-tenured workers, extended eight months
- Relief from EI penalties for recent voluntary job exits, for one year
- Job matching through JobBank.gc.ca
Workforce Retention and Retraining Program
Consolidates work-sharing and retention supports into one offering, and covers training and administrative costs up to $1,000 per participant. If you are weighing layoffs against reduced hours, look at this before you decide.
Getting duty back
Separate from the funding programs, there are three long-standing routes worth knowing about if you are actually paying duty:
- Duties Relief Program — lets you import goods without paying duty if they will later be exported.
- Duty Drawback Program — refunds duty already paid on goods that were subsequently exported.
- Remission framework — a process for exceptional relief where no reasonable alternative source exists, or where the duty causes severe adverse impacts. This is discretionary and case-by-case, but it exists. The process for the counter-tariff surtax is below.
The first two run through the Canada Border Services Agency and are worth a conversation with your customs broker before you assume the duty is simply a cost.
Asking to be let off: the remission process
The remission process opened alongside the counter-tariffs on 8 September 2026. It is not a grant and it is not a loan. It is a request to be released from the surtax on particular goods.
Companies registered in Canada may request relief on two grounds:
- that an input cannot reasonably be sourced from Canadian or other non-US suppliers; or
- exceptional circumstances that would cause severe adverse impacts.
Requests go by email to remissions-remises@fin.gc.ca with “U.S. Remission” in the subject line. The Minister of Finance recommends remission and the Governor in Council grants it by Order in Council. There is no published deadline.
Being straight about it: this is discretionary, decided case by case, and there is no service standard telling you when to expect an answer. It is worth the effort when a US-origin input genuinely has no substitute. It is not a route to a better price on something you could buy elsewhere.
How to apply for tariff remission — what to put in the request →
What came into force on 8 September
Canada’s counter-tariffs came into force on 8 September 2026 and are live now — $27.6 billion in US imports at rates of 15%, 25% and 50%, matched to the corresponding US levels. Captured categories include steel and aluminum and their derivatives, furniture, clothing and apparel, appliances, dairy including cheese, pulp and paper, electronics, and agricultural equipment.
Talks between Ottawa and Washington have broken down, so there is no near-term reason to expect either side to withdraw. If you buy any of those categories from a US supplier — or from a Canadian distributor who sources from one — your costs have already moved. The full picture on both sides of the border →
Where we fit
We are a software studio, not a grant consultancy. We do not write applications and we do not charge a percentage.
What we do is work out two things: where the tariffs actually hit your business, which is the part most owners cannot see from the inside, and which markets outside the United States would buy what you make. That analysis is usually what you need in front of you before an application makes any sense. Several of these programs ask what you are pivoting to, what capital project you are funding, or which export market you are entering. Those are much easier questions to answer once someone has mapped your exposure and named the buyers.
See how the New Markets Review works → · See a complete worked example
Related
- Where else in the world would buy this?
- How to apply for tariff remission
- How to apply for the Regional Tariff Response Initiative
- How to apply for BDC Pivot to Grow
- What are Section 338 tariffs?
- A complete worked example, unredacted
Official sources
- Finance Canada — support for Canadian workers and businesses affected by US tariffs
- Finance Canada — targeted countermeasures and support announcement
- Finance Canada — list of US products subject to counter-tariffs from 8 September 2026
- Business Development Bank of Canada
- Job Bank
- Canada Border Services Agency — duties relief and drawback
Program details are summarized from federal announcements and were accurate as of 10 September 2026. Amounts, eligibility, caps and intake dates change; confirm everything on the official pages linked above before you rely on it. InfiniteUp is not affiliated with any of these programs and receives nothing from them. This is not legal, financial, or tax advice.