Caseway, the Canadian AI company whose software completes and checks the regulated paperwork that courts, regulators and auditors read, is withdrawing from the Government of Canada’s Canadian Technology Accelerator in Silicon Valley. The company was one of eight Canadian firms selected from 137 applicants for the 2026 Agentic and Enterprise AI cohort in San Francisco.

Caseway will now focus its growth on Canadian companies, American companies with operations in Canada, European companies and Taiwanese companies.

The decision follows two years of escalating pressure on Canada. On July 1, 2026, the United States refused to renew CUSMA at its first joint review, with the US Trade Representative stating plainly that “the USMCA is not renewed”. On August 22, 2026, the United States imposed a 50 per cent tariff on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods under Section 338, and Canada matched it dollar for dollar on September 8. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st state, and told NATO allies in March 2025: “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them.”

“We love Americans, and we are not leaving our American customers,” said Al Vigier, founder and CEO of Caseway. “We have two large customers in the United States in legal technology, and we will keep delivering for them. But we work in defence, and we cannot be caught between a rock and a hard place. I keep being asked why a Canadian defence supplier is flying to the United States for a Global Affairs Canada program while the President of the United States is calling our country the 51st state. That is a fair question, and this is my answer.”

Caseway’s US federal supplier registrations remain in place, and the company will continue to serve and support its American customers and partners. What changes is where new growthgoes.

“This was a difficult decision, and it is not a boycott of the American people,” Vigier said. “It is a decision about the conduct of the current administration. We cannot sit out three years and hope the bullying stops. Canada’s own government is asking businesses to diversify, and this is us doing it.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney has told Canadians “we can’t rely on one foreign partner” and set a goal of doubling Canada’s non-US exports within a decade. Ontario Premier Doug Ford cancelled his province’s Starlink contract, saying “we won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country.” British Columbia Premier David Eby has said that “our largest trading partner has become increasingly unreliable” and has led trade missions across Asia.

Canada is moving with Europe at the same time. In June 2025 Canada and the European Union signed a Security and Defence Partnership, and in December 2025 Canada became the first country outside Europe to join the EU’s SAFE defence instrument.

Caseway’s second focus is Taiwan, where it already works with MiTAC Advance Technology on counter-drone and maritime decision support, announced in July 2026, along with Phison Electronics, Kunway Technology and Coretronic Intelligent Robotics.

“Taiwan is being pushed around too,” Vigier said. “The US Commerce Secretary told Taiwan it should hand over half of its chip production, and Taiwan’s own Vice Premier had to say publicly that Taiwan would never agree to that. Meanwhile Taiwan is still waiting on more than 21 billion US dollars of weapons it has already paid for. Taiwan’s own Vice President says partners come to Taiwan because it offers “trustworthy non-red supply chains”. Canada and Europe can help fill those gaps, and AI that can be trusted with sensitive data is one of the things we can bring.”

Caseway builds sovereign AI: its software runs inside the customer’s own systems, in the customer’s own country, checks every answer against the rules before anything goes out, and records every decision.

The company was careful to separate its decision from the program it is leaving.

“The Canadian Technology Accelerator is a good program run by good people, and it costs Canadian companies nothing,” Vigier said. “We are grateful to Global Affairs Canada, the Trade Commissioner Service and the Consulate General of Canada in Palo Alto. They have helped hundreds of Canadian firms, including ours. Our decision is about the country the cohort takes place in, not about them, and we will keep working with the Trade Commissioner Service in Taipei, in Europe and here at home.”

Caseway will continue to sell into the United States through American companies with Canadian operations, and will continue to honour its commitments to its existing US customers and partners.