OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada is launching a C$5 billion program to help Canadian exporters reach new markets as part of measures to support businesses and workers in response to U.S. tariffs, the federal government said in a statement Friday.
The government will also make C$1 billion in new financing available through Farm Credit Canada to help farmers and agricultural businesses address cash flow problems, the statement said.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration imposed 25% tariffs on most imports from Canada and Mexico earlier this week, before announcing a suspension of the charges until April 2 on goods covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.
“We are moving ahead with these changes despite yesterday’s pause because businesses and workers need assurances right now,” Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said at a news conference on Friday.
“We may not know what our American neighbors will do, nor what new tale they will tell, but we are united.”
Canada relies on the United States for 75% of its exports and a third of all imports. Its reliance on trade for economic growth leaves the country vulnerable to a protracted trade war.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Ryan Patrick Jones; editing by Deepa Babington)
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