Trump Threatens to Block Opening of Bridge between Windsor and Detroit
President Trump is threatening to halt a major cross-border project he once supported, according to CBC News. In a lengthy post on Truth Social on Monday, the US president said he would block the opening of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, unless the United States is “fully compensated for everything we have given them” and Canada treats the US with “Fairness and Respect.” He did not specify what compensation he was seeking. CBC News reported that it asked the White House for clarification.
The six-lane bridge, expected to open in early 2026, is being fully funded by Canada’s federal government at an estimated cost of $6.4 billion. Construction began in 2018 to relieve pressure on the aging Ambassador Bridge, currently the primary commercial crossing between the two cities and one of the busiest trade corridors in North America. The New York Times noted it is unclear how Trump could prevent the bridge from operating, as a public-private arrangement gives Michigan partial ownership and the right to jointly operate the crossing with Canada. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office responded after the post by saying the bridge is “going to open one way or another,” according to the Detroit News. However, the newspaper pointed out that one option available to Trump could be declining to staff the US Customs plaza at the bridge.
The project has long been the subject of legal disputes with the Detroit-based Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge, who argue that the new crossing infringes on what they consider their exclusive right to collect tolls. During his first term, they lobbied Trump to stop the project. In 2017, however, he joined then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in calling the Gordie Howe bridge a priority and an important link for trade between the two countries.
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