Detroit-Canada Bridge Saga

Trump Adds A New Chapter To Detroit-Canada Bridge Saga

By Bill Koenig

After decades, a new bridge between the United States and Canada is almost ready to open. This was supposed to end a decades-old soap opera.

U.S. President Donald Trump this week had other ideas.

On Feb. 9, in a post on Trump’s Truth Social, the president said he “will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them,” referring to Canada.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, was constructed at a cost of C$6.4 billion ($4.6 billion). It will be the third crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. It will be added to a Detroit-Windsor tunnel (connecting the downtowns of the two cities) and the Ambassador Bridge, the main commercial link in the region.

The new bridge, named after a famed Detroit Red Wings hockey player, was built by Canada in part to make automotive trade between the two countries easier.

The new bridge has been developed for years.

The privately owned Ambassador Bridge opened in 1929, according to the Detroit Historical Society. It is the main point of U.S.-Canadian auto trade.

Throughout the early 2000s, the Ambassador Bridge owners conflicted with Canada.

The Ambassador Bridge owners sought to construct a new bridge next to the existing structure. The idea: The new bridge would take over trade while the old bridge could be used for emergencies. Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the Ambassador Bridge, purchased houses and land for the replacement bridge, the company said in 2008.

Canada objected.

The country sought a new structure jointly funded with the state of Michigan. Eventually, Canada moved to finance a new bridge by itself. Tolls charged at the new bridge will be used to pay off costs. A deal was struck during Trump’s first term as president. The Gordie Howe bridge is about a mile away from the Ambassador Bridge.

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The Gordie Howe bridge will connect Interstate 75 in Michigan to an extension of Canada’s busy 401 highway.

The new structure will “address some really important transportation needs,” Heather Grondin, chief relations officer of Canada’s Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, said during a Society of Automotive Analysts webinar in August 2025.

Tolls for the Gordie Howe bridge have yet to be set. All tolls will be paid on the Canadian side of the bridge.

Grondin said in August the Gordie Howe bridge will be the choice for U.S.-Canada trade shipments.

All of this is taking place amid a U.S.-Canada trade war. Trump repeatedly has said the U.S. should annex Canada. The U.S. neighbor, an independent country since 1867, has resisted.

Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have clashed repeatedly on trade matters. The U.S. president has objected to a trade deal Canada reached with China.

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyer, a Republican involved with the bridge deal, wrote an op-ed story this week for The Detroit News.

“Canada and the state of Michigan are 50/50 owners of the new bridge,” the former governor wrote. “Canada was wonderful and financed the entire bridge. They will get repaid with interest from the tolls. Michigan and the United States got their half-ownership with no investment. That is a great deal.”

Snyder added: “The workers and materials for the bridge construction have come from both countries. The U.S. customs plaza and the Michigan-side approach to work have been built with U.S. materials and workers, just as the Canadian equivalents have been built with Canadian resources.”

The New York Times reported Tuesday that Matthew Moroun, whose family owns the Ambassador Bridge, met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick shortly before Trump threatened to prevent the opening of Gordie Howe bridge.