Department of Finance Canada announced business supports in response to the tariff dispute with the United States.
The largest measure was Export Development Canada's Trade Impact Program. Finance Canada said the program would deploy $5 billion over two years to help exporters reach new markets and manage tariff-related challenges.
The EDC program was aimed at problems such as non-payment risk, currency fluctuations, limited cash flow, and barriers to expansion.
The Business Development Bank of Canada was assigned a separate role. Finance Canada said BDC would make up to $500 million available through six-year working capital loans for commercially viable businesses.
Those BDC loans would range from $100,000 to $2 million. Finance Canada said favourable terms could include postponing principal payments for up to 12 months and pricing loans at BDC's base interest rate minus two percentage points.
The package also included $1 billion in new financing through Farm Credit Canada for the agriculture and food sector.
Through the Trade Disruption Customer Support program, FCC could provide an additional credit line of up to $500,000 and new term loans for eligible customers and non-customers in agriculture and food.
Current FCC customers could also defer principal payments for up to 12 months on existing loans.
The government also maintained the $250,000 interest-free loan limit under the Advance Payments Program for the 2025-26 program year. The program can provide up to $1,000,000 in total advances based on eligible agricultural products.
The support package did not remove the tariffs. It tried to reduce the financing pressure that tariffs can create when exporters lose sales, importers face higher costs, or supply chains need to change quickly.
The business significance is liquidity. A tariff shock can become a cash-flow problem before it becomes an accounting-year profit problem, especially for firms carrying inventory, receivables, foreign-exchange exposure, or supplier contracts.