By OptiVal Editorial Desk
US tariffs have been squeezing Canadian exporters for months, and the federal lender’s response is worth your attention: BDC Pivot to Grow. The program lends up to $5 million per financing stream, three streams in total, and the newest liquidity stream charges 0% interest for the first 12 months. It stays open until March 31, 2028, or until BDC uses up the funding envelope, whichever comes first.
If your business sells into the United States and tariffs are eating your cash flow, this is one of the most generous options on the table right now. Here is what each stream covers, who qualifies, and how to apply. The full terms are on the official BDC Pivot to Grow program page.
What BDC Pivot to Grow actually offers
The program has three financing streams. Each one is capped at $5 million, for a maximum of $10 million across the program for a single business. You can prepay any of them at any time with no penalty, and BDC sets the terms around your situation after its analysis.
Liquidity support. This is the headline stream, added in August 2026 after the latest round of US tariffs. Loans run from $250,000 to $5 million at 0% interest for the first 12 months, with interest-only payments for up to 36 months and up to 96 months to repay. It is built for businesses facing, or about to face, an operational cash flow shortfall within the next 12 months because of tariffs. You do not need a resilience plan for this one.
Pivot support. Working capital to reshape the business: rethink your supply chain, find new markets, launch new products, or put a resilience plan into action. You get up to 24 months of interest-only payments and up to 84 months to repay. A resilience plan is mandatory here, because BDC wants to see how the money helps you adapt.
Equipment financing. Money for the machinery and equipment that keeps you competitive while everything else gets more expensive. Up to 24 months interest-only and up to 168 months to repay. Like the pivot stream, this one requires a resilience plan.
One honest caveat: the liquidity support ends automatically if the US tariffs that took effect in August 2026 are repealed, cancelled, or suspended. The other two streams continue either way.
Who qualifies for BDC Pivot to Grow
The bar is set for established exporters, not startups. Your business needs to be:
- Based in Canada
- Bringing in at least $1 million in annual revenue (BDC lowered this threshold in the August 2026 update)
- In business for at least 3 years
- Showing historically positive cash flow
- Viable before the tariffs hit, and able to show the tariffs, the related uncertainty, or the current downturn have materially hurt your operations and profitability
On top of that, at least 15% of your sales must come from exports to the United States. Then each stream adds its own test:
- Liquidity: tariffs must equal at least 5% of your revenue.
- Pivot and equipment: either the 15% US export test, or revenue down or costs up by at least 10% because of US tariffs.
BDC estimates around 5,500 Canadian small and mid-sized businesses across more than 100 sub-sectors could be directly affected by the August tariff round. If that sounds like you, the eligibility test is worth running.
What 0% for a year is actually worth
A quick example to put the liquidity stream in perspective. Take a manufacturer doing $4 million in revenue with 40% of sales going to the US. Tariffs cost it roughly $240,000 a year, which is 6% of revenue, so it clears the liquidity test. It borrows $600,000 through the liquidity stream.
At 0% for the first 12 months, the interest bill for year one is zero. Against a 7% loan, used here only as an illustration, that is roughly $42,000 of interest not paid in the hardest year. That is the point of the program: cheap breathing room while you reprice contracts, renegotiate terms, or redirect orders. After year one, normal interest applies, so treat the window as a runway, not a gift.
The resilience plan, demystified
The resilience plan sounds bureaucratic, but it is a short, practical document: where the tariff pain hits your business, what you will change (suppliers, markets, products, pricing), and the numbers behind it. BDC requires it for the pivot and equipment streams, not for liquidity support.
If you do not have one, BDC’s own Advisory Services team offers a Trade Resilience consulting service to help you build it. A decent plan also strengthens every other funding application you make, so the effort does not go to waste.
How to apply for Pivot to Grow
BDC keeps the process to three steps:
- Share some information about your business and how US tariffs, the related uncertainty, or the current economic downturn have affected it.
- Talk to a BDC representative, who walks through your project in depth and lists the documents needed for the analysis.
- If approved, you receive a loan offer tailored to your financial needs and capacity.
Have your financial statements, a summary of your US sales, and a rough estimate of what tariffs cost you ready before you start. Lenders move faster when the numbers arrive organised.
Where Pivot to Grow fits with the other programs
Pivot to Grow is federal money, and it pairs well with the provincial and regional options. A few notes on fit:
- If you are in Ontario, the Protect Ontario Financing Program expects you to have explored federal options first, which makes a Pivot to Grow application (or a documented attempt) useful groundwork.
- FedDev Ontario’s Regional Tariff Response Initiative offers non-repayable support, which beats a loan if you qualify, though the bar and the paperwork differ.
- You can generally combine programs as long as you do not claim the same costs twice. Our stacking guide walks through the double-dipping rules.
To see which of these you might qualify for, run our funding eligibility calculator at opti-val.ca/government-funding.
Getting help with your application
Not sure which programs you qualify for? We help small businesses find funding and prepare applications, from eligibility checks to the paperwork lenders ask for. Book a free consultation at opti-val.ca/contact-us. Where an engagement follows, our consulting rate is $125/hr, HST extra.
