Services

Country-Risk and Sanctions Check - Enter Markets With Your Eyes Open

Check the country risk and sanctions exposure of a target market before you enter. A funded compliance service.

Country-Risk and Sanctions Check — Enter Markets With Your Eyes Open

The problem it solves

Entering a market without understanding its risk and sanctions exposure is a bet you should not take. Payment risk, political risk, sanctions complexity, and regulatory exposure can cost you far more than the market is worth. Exporters who check first enter with their eyes open; the ones who do not find out the hard way.

What the service is

A risk-check service that monitors the risk indicators and sanctions status of your target market and verifies the local situation before you commit.

How it works

Scope the market

we confirm the market and the exposure you are considering.

Check the risk

we assess payment, political, and sanctions risk indicators.

Verify locally

local partners confirm the current status on the ground.

Structure the report

you get a clear risk picture with recommendations.

Enter with eyes open

you decide with the risk fully understood.

Benefits

Market entry with your eyes open.

Grant-eligible

CanExport and EDC reimburse up to 50% of eligible costs to incorporated Canadian exporters for a compliance activity.

Payment, political, and sanctions risk assessed.

Local verification of current status.

Clear recommendations, not just warnings.

Who it is for

A manufacturer checking an emerging EU market.

An agri-food exporter assessing Gulf payment risk.

A tech company verifying sanctions exposure in a new market.

What is included

Market scoping

Risk assessment

Local verification

Report structuring

Recommendations

Compliance grant documentation

The grant angle

This service is structured as a grant-eligible activity under CanExport SMEs 2026-27. Specifically, it qualifies as Compliance. That means two things for your budget: the activity is grant-eligible (CanExport can reimburse up to 50% of eligible costs to your company), and we document it with evidence so your claim is approved. Under the program rules, CanExport reimburses up to 50% of eligible costs for a for-profit, incorporated Canadian company with 3 to 500 employees and at least $300,000 in revenue, entering a market that is new to you. We confirm your specific eligibility in the readiness call before you commit anything.

How other companies are doing this

The pattern is proven by the programs that fund it, not by our claims. According to the Trade Commissioner Service, TCS clients export 20.5% more and reach 20.9% more markets on average than exporters who go it alone. CanExport funds thousands of diversification projects every year, with roughly $31 million available in 2026-27, and EDC's Trade Impact Program has already financed more than 6,000 transactions for Canadian exporters pivoting away from the US. Canadian companies are doing exactly this every day: building a grant-supported non-US market presence. The question is whether yours is one of them.

The proof is also in the process. We meet you in person to understand your product and capacity, we map your grant before you spend a dollar, and we document every activity with evidence, so your claim is clean and your market entry is real. That visible process, combined with government co-funding, is how a newer player earns the trust that established firms get from decades of references. We do not ask you to trust our word; we show you exactly what will happen, step by step, and grant programs reimburse up to half of the eligible costs.

What we bring on top of the process is delivery discipline. We are 100% Canadian owned with 30 years of on-the-ground experience in target markets and a network of vetted local partners in 20 countries. We work exclusively for Canadian exporters, never for foreign buyers, so there is no conflict of interest in where we point you. And once your engagement begins, the proof compounds fast: every meeting booked, every buyer vetted, and every application filed is a real, documented result you can see and use.

Get started

Getting started takes three steps and begins with a call, not a contract:

Book a readiness call.

Tell us your product and the market you are considering. We confirm fit and grant eligibility in that first conversation.

We scope your plan.

You approve the scope, the price, and the grant structure before you spend a dollar. This is where the grant eligibility is confirmed and the cost is mapped, so there are no surprises.

You get started within 30 days.

We handle the delivery, you keep the customers and the relationships, and the evidence is documented for your claim as the work happens.

The price is visible and predictable: a flat fee plus the grant-covered costs of the activity, with success components tied to real outcomes where they apply. Because the cost leg is grant-eligible, your out-of-pocket is typically halved. No form required to see the price. No obligation before the readiness call.

Sector focus: alcohol & beverage exporters

The US import ban on Canadian alcohol took effect September 29, 2026. Canada exported $1.36B in alcohol in 2023 - 90% to the US, about two-thirds of it spirits. Rye, whisky, wine, beer, vermouth, vodka, tequila and rum now need non-US buyers fast.

This service works the same way for every sector: alcohol and beverage, dairy and agri-food, seafood, manufacturing, and technology. Pick a market in the Global Markets hub, check the trade agreement, and let us do the work - grant-eligible clients can claim up to 50% of their eligible costs back via CanExport and EDC.

Questions

What risks do you check?

Payment, political, sanctions, and regulatory exposure for the market.

Am I eligible?

CanExport SMEs 2026-27 covers compliance activities for eligible companies.

How do you verify?

Local partners confirm the current situation on the ground.

What if the risk is high?

We tell you clearly and recommend the controls or a different approach.

Final call

A market you have never entered is a market full of buyers you have not met. The difference between waiting and winning is whether someone has already started the work. We build the plan, you take the meetings and close the deals, and grant programs reimburse up to 50% of eligible costs. This is not a subscription you sign in the dark: you see the scope, the price, and the grant structure before you commit a dollar, and the evidence of what was done comes back to you with every milestone. Every engagement starts in person, in Canada, so you know exactly who is doing the work and how it will be delivered before you sign anything.

What you keep at the end is yours: the buyer relationships, the market knowledge, the documented evidence, and the standing presence you can build on. Grant programs can reimburse up to half of the eligible costs, because diversifying Canadian exports is a national priority and the programs exist to fund exactly this. The only question is whether your market entry is one of the ones they fund.

Talk to a person today - we are in Canada, and we will come to you.

Subscribe or book your free readiness call now. Grant programs can reimburse up to 50% of eligible costs.

Book a free readiness call

Grant programs can reimburse up to 50% of eligible market-entry costs. In one free call we tell you honestly whether your product fits a non-US market.

Book a free readiness call