The federal government pledged a $7.5B tariff-relief package. Here’s what’s in it.

OTTAWA - The federal government announced a new package of relief for businesses and workers affected by U.S. President Donald Trump's latest round of tariffs, which targets various sectors such as honey, wine, manufacturing, textiles, and hockey sticks.

The package includes a $7.5 billion relief initiative on top of the $25 billion in relief programs created over the past 18 months. The new relief covers several areas:

1. A $2 billion "Canada Strong Diversification Fund" to support medium-sized companies with "shovel-ready projects that support ongoing capital maintenance."

2. A $3.5 billion change to employment insurance (EI) and support for workers, including:

- A one-year extension for workers who voluntarily left their jobs, as long as their most recent job loss was not due to their own actions.

- Waiving the one-week waiting period for EI benefits for workers affected by tariffs.

- Extending the temporary EI measure allowing workers to receive benefits before using up severance or vacation pay by eight months.

- Launching a workforce retention and retraining program to streamline existing EI programs and grants, providing up to $1,000 per participant for training and administration.

3. A $1.5 billion regional tariff response initiative administered by seven regional development agencies to help small and medium-sized businesses, with increased loan caps and interest-free loans.

4. A $500 million liquidity stream to the Business Development Bank of Canada to help small and medium businesses facing cash-flow shortfalls due to tariffs, with expanded eligibility and interest-only payments for the first 36 months.