Ford Opens New Tariff Relief as Trump’s 50% Duties Hit More Ontario Exporters

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Ontario businesses woke up to a harder U.S. border on September 15, with another group of Canadian products becoming subject to President Donald Trump’s 50 per cent tariffs. At the same time, Premier Doug Ford’s government widened access to provincial tariff-support programs for companies suddenly caught in the expanded trade fight.

The timing is deliberate. Ontario manufacturers and exporters are being asked to absorb a trade shock that now stretches well beyond the automotive, steel and aluminum industries that dominated the early stages of the dispute. Furniture, paper, metal products, boats, dairy products and other goods have moved deeper into the crosshairs. For businesses built around dependable cross-border orders, a 50 per cent U.S. duty can quickly become a question of whether an order remains commercially viable at all.

Ontario’s New Relief Opens as the Latest Tariffs Take Effect

Ontario announced ahead of the September 15 deadline that eligibility for both the Protect Ontario Financing Program and Ontario Together Trade Fund would expand as the newest U.S. trade measures took effect. That makes the provincial response different from a future aid promise: affected companies can begin assessing whether they qualify as the new tariff exposure actually arrives.

The latest expansion covers businesses connected to newly targeted products including certain steel, aluminum and other metal goods, mattresses and furniture, paper products, motorboats and golf carts, some dairy and specialty cheeses, and selected animal skins and leather products. That is a considerably broader group than the major industrial sectors normally associated with Canada-U.S. tariff battles. A company producing bedding, specialized paper or recreational equipment may now be dealing with the same kind of U.S. market-access problem previously associated primarily with steel mills and auto suppliers.

Trump’s 50% Tariff Net Has Become Much Wider

The September 15 change stems from presidential proclamations signed on September 8 that modified the Canadian products captured by the U.S. Section 338 tariff regime. U.S. Customs and Border Protection subsequently instructed importers that the updated classifications would apply to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on September 15.

Section 338 has become one of the most consequential tools in the current Canada-U.S. dispute. Earlier measures had already imposed additional 50 per cent duties on selected Canadian goods after Washington accused Canada of discriminatory treatment involving vehicles, dairy products and alcoholic beverages. Canada has rejected the broader U.S. approach and answered with countermeasures of its own. The practical problem for an Ontario exporter is more immediate: once a product falls under a 50 per cent additional duty, a long-standing U.S. customer suddenly faces dramatically different economics when deciding whether to keep ordering from Canada.

The Protect Ontario Program Is Designed for the Cash-Flow Shock

The $1 billion Protect Ontario Financing Program is intended primarily to keep otherwise viable companies functioning when tariffs create an immediate working-capital problem. Eligible financing can be used for expenses such as payroll, leases and utilities rather than for acquisitions or ordinary capital expansion. Support is structured as a term loan, with a minimum financing request of $250,000 and repayment periods of up to six years.

The eligibility rules also mean this is not universal emergency assistance. Businesses generally need at least $2 million in annual revenue, at least 10 full-time Ontario employees and three years of operating history supported by financial statements. Applicants must demonstrate a material tariff-related working-capital problem and show that federal financing options have been explored, exhausted or are difficult to access. Ontario can potentially provide principal-free repayment periods of up to 12 months. For a manufacturer suddenly waiting longer for orders or payments, that breathing room can matter almost as much as the headline size of the loan.

A Second Fund Is Meant to Help Companies Change Direction

Ontario is also widening access to the $150 million Ontario Together Trade Fund, which tackles a different problem. Instead of focusing mainly on keeping the lights on, it supports investment intended to make businesses less vulnerable to U.S. trade disruptions. Eligible projects can involve new markets, additional manufacturing capacity, reshored supply chains, technology upgrades or production changes that reduce dependence on tariff-exposed goods.

Companies generally must have at least three years of operations and five full-time-equivalent employees, while qualifying projects require at least $200,000 in eligible investment and must normally be completed within two years. Ontario says most support is expected to cover roughly 10 to 20 per cent of eligible project costs, although grants or loans can reach $5 million and exceptionally significant projects can receive support equal to as much as 75 per cent of eligible costs. That makes the fund less of a rescue vehicle and more of an incentive to redesign a business around a less predictable North American trading environment.

Ontario Has More at Stake Than Most Provinces

Ontario’s exposure to the United States helps explain why Queen’s Park has repeatedly expanded its tariff programs. Provincial data show the U.S. accounted for 71.7 per cent of Ontario’s international exports in 2025. Motor vehicles and parts alone represented 22.6 per cent of international exports, while mechanical equipment, electrical machinery and plastics also ranked among the province’s largest export categories.

The dependence is visible at the company level as well. Statistics Canada reported that 19,489 Ontario establishments exported to the United States in 2025, representing 85.9 per cent of the province’s exporting establishments. That means even a tariff written around a seemingly narrow list of products can ripple through trucking firms, packaging companies, toolmakers, component suppliers and local service businesses. An exporter may not make the final tariffed product itself but can still lose business when a customer cuts production. Ontario’s support programs explicitly recognize supply-chain companies for precisely that reason.

Manufacturers Were Already Carrying Trade-War Scars

The newest duties are arriving after a difficult period for Canadian manufacturing. Statistics Canada reported that Ontario manufacturing payroll employment fell by 27,200 positions during 2025, leaving about 656,700 employees in the sector in December. Nationally, transportation-equipment manufacturing, fabricated metal manufacturing and machinery all recorded employment losses over that period.

The tariff effect has also appeared directly in business responses. Statistics Canada found that 50.6 per cent of manufacturing businesses surveyed in the first quarter of 2026 said U.S. tariffs had negatively affected their operations during the previous year. Canadian manufacturing exports are unusually tied to U.S. demand: approximately 41 per cent of manufacturing payroll jobs in 2024 were supported by demand from the United States. Those figures help explain why provincial relief focuses heavily on preserving payroll and working capital. When an export order disappears, the risk does not stop at the loading dock; it can quickly reach shifts, overtime, suppliers and hiring decisions.

The Latest Economic Signals Are Mixed Rather Than Uniformly Bleak

Ontario manufacturing showed a welcome improvement immediately before the latest tariff expansion. Statistics Canada’s August Labour Force Survey found manufacturing employment rose by 22,000 nationally during the month, with approximately 14,000 of that increase occurring in Ontario. Manufacturing was the only major industry to record a statistically significant national employment gain in August.

Trade figures nevertheless underline how quickly conditions can change. Canadian merchandise exports to the United States fell 6.6 per cent in July, the largest monthly percentage decline since April 2025. Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S. narrowed from $10.3 billion in June to $5.9 billion in July. At the same time, exports to non-U.S. destinations rose 7.4 per cent to a record $25.6 billion. The numbers capture the dilemma facing Ontario: businesses are finding customers elsewhere, but the U.S. remains far too large a market for most exporters to replace quickly.

Ford’s Response Is Part of a Much Bigger Tariff Package

The new eligibility rules sit inside what the Ford government describes as nearly $30 billion in tariff relief and business support announced since April 2025. That umbrella includes financing, investment programs, worker assistance, community support and earlier tax-payment deferrals rather than $30 billion in direct grants. The $1 billion Protect Ontario Financing Program itself was created as the first phase of the province’s $5 billion Protecting Ontario Account.

There are already examples of the province using these programs to support industrial operations. Ontario committed a $100 million loan toward a joint $500 million federal-provincial support package for Algoma Steel. Through the Ontario Together Trade Fund, the province also committed $5 million toward Massilly North America’s approximately $85 million Ontario expansion, aimed in part at strengthening Canadian metal-packaging supply chains. Those cases illustrate the two-track strategy now being extended to additional exporters: stabilize businesses facing immediate financial pressure while funding investments that can reduce future trade vulnerability.

Federal Programs Give Ontario Companies Another Layer of Support

Queen’s Park is not acting alone. Ottawa expanded its Regional Tariff Response Initiative in September, with applications open for companies in southern Ontario through FedDev Ontario. Eligible tariff-affected businesses can obtain up to $2 million in non-repayable liquidity assistance and as much as another $1 million in non-repayable support for qualifying pivot projects. Larger projects may qualify for repayable financing.

The federal expansion forms part of a $7.5 billion package announced after the August escalation in U.S. tariffs. Measures include an additional $1.5 billion for the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, $500 million in new Business Development Bank of Canada liquidity support, a $2 billion Canada Strong Diversification Fund and $3.5 billion in rapid-response support for workers and employers. The overlap matters because Ontario’s financing program requires businesses to explore federal options. For an exporter facing a sudden order slowdown, navigating the provincial and federal systems together may produce a mix of liquidity relief and longer-term investment funding rather than relying on one program alone.

Another Trade Deadline Is Already Approaching

September 15 is not the final date Ontario exporters are watching. The Trump administration has also ordered import restrictions on additional Canadian products beginning September 29. Ontario has identified affected categories as including most Canadian alcoholic beverages, some dairy-related products such as whey and motorcycles with engines larger than 800cc. White House proclamations confirm that certain Canadian goods in the targeted categories will be excluded from U.S. importation from that date.

That escalation strengthens the case for the second half of Ontario’s strategy: finding customers somewhere other than the United States. Progress is visible but incomplete. Canadian exports to non-U.S. destinations reached a record $25.6 billion in July, representing 33.7 per cent of merchandise exports that month. Yet Ontario’s economy remains deeply connected to its southern neighbour. Ford’s new relief can soften immediate damage and buy businesses time. The harder task is turning that time into new customers, new supply chains and an economy that can withstand the next tariff announcement.

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