Cornwall, ON – If your business has been impacted by international trade disruptions, especially U.S. or Chinese Tariffs, the federal government’s Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI) may offer your business some support.

Launched in March 2025 with $450 million in federal funding and expanded to $1 billion over three years as of September 5th, 2025, RTRI is delivered through Canada’s Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). The initiative provides funding for projects aimed at boosting productivity, driving growth, and diversifying markets for SMEs. The funding and criteria are limited and varies by region and sector.

In the Cornwall region, the RTRI will be delivered via FedDev Ontario. Program details follow:

RTRI Program Details

RTRI supports businesses and sectors impacted by tariffs through projects that can be executed in the timeframe of March 2025 to March 2028, by:

  • Helping businesses undertake projects to boost productivity, enhance competitiveness and reduce costs to mitigate tariff impacts; and
  • Enabling greater resiliency among Canadian businesses through more robust domestic supply chains, enhanced internal trade, market diversification, and future-proofing operations.

RTRI funding per recipient

Businesses can normally request:

  • $125,000 to $10 million in repayable funding; or
  • $125,000 to $1 million in non-repayable funding.

Not-for-profit organizations can normally request a minimum of $125,000 to $10 million in non-repayable funding.

Eligible applicants

  • Incorporated for-profit businesses located and operating in southern Ontario employing at least 5 full-time equivalent employees in the region and fewer than 500 full-time equivalent employees overall.
  • Not-for-profit organizations in southern Ontario whose primary focus is to support SMEs.

To be eligible, your business or Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples) business must:

  • Be located and operating in southern Ontario at the time of your application (see Applicant Information section in the Application guide for more details).
  • Be incorporated and registered to do business in Canada or Ontario for at least the past 3 years.
  • Operate as a for-profit business.
  • Employ a minimum of 5 full-time equivalent employees in southern Ontario and fewer than 500 full-time equivalent employees overall.
  • Viable prior to the tariffs imposed by the U.S. and China, and prior to March 21, 2025.

In addition, your business must either:

  • Have at least 25% of your sales in the markets targeted by the tariffs; OR
  • Demonstrate that it has been directly affected by ongoing trade disruptions, including U.S. and China tariffs or Canadian measures. This could be demonstrated by:
  • Increased cost for the purchase of production materials (e.g., supply chain disruption, changes to lead times, costs of supplies, alternative sourcing).
  • Increased retail cost of finished product.
  • Addition of an import or export tax.
  • Revenue decline and/or loss of market access (e.g., loss of customers or contracts, reduced export volumes).
  • Employment effects due to tariffs (e.g., layoffs, hiring freezes, uptake of the Economic and Social Development Canada Work-Sharing Program).
  • Other evidence provided by the applicant demonstrating that the business has been negatively impacted.

Additional Information

About FedDev Ontario

FedDev Ontario helps businesses and organizations in Canada’s most populous region to grow and compete.