It’s only fitting that the new border bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit is named after Canadian hockey legend Gordie Howe, whose “elbows up” philosophy personified his robust style of play, after Donald Trump threatened this week to stall the opening of the soon-to-open mega structure.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the threat will be resolved following a call with the U.S. president Tuesday.
“I explained that Canada paid for the construction of the bridge – $4 billion – that the ownership is shared between the state of Michigan and the government of Canada,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa.
The prime minister said he also told Trump that Canadian and American steel and workers were involved in the bridge’s construction.
“I look forward to it opening and what is particularly important is the commerce and the tourism of Canadians and Americans that go across that bridge,” Carney said.
However, later on Tuesday, the White House continued to rattle cages, stating that Trump has the right to amend the permit for the bridge.
“The fact that Canada will control what crosses the Gordie Howe Bridge and owns the land on both sides is unacceptable to the president,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “It’s also unacceptable that more of this bridge isn’t being built with more American-made materials.”
But former Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder wrote in an op-ed in The Detroit News on Tuesday that Trump was wrong in asserting that Canada owns both the U.S.- and Canadian sides of the Gordie Howe bridge.
“Canada and the state of Michigan are 50/50 owners of the new bridge,” Snyder 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.”
In a social media post late Monday, Trump has insisted the U.S. must be compensated before he’ll allow the bridge to open. He claimed the bridge was built with virtually no U.S. content.
“Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just ‘take advantage of America!'” Trump posted. “What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING!”
In his post, the president also complained about U.S. liquor being removed from Ontario stores and repeated misleading allegations about Canada’s dairy sector and its limited tariff deal with Beijing on agriculture products and electric vehicles.
Trump also claimed China will “terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada” and “permanently eliminate the Stanley Cup.”
Carney said Trump requested that U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra, who is from Michigan, help “smooth” the conversation on the bridge.
The bridge will change the way people cross the Detroit River. Expected to open in early 2026, the bridge is designed to ease congestion at existing crossings. Once it is built, it will become the only bridge from Michigan to Canada that allows for foot and bike traffic, joining just a few other US-Canadian crossings with pedestrian lanes.
The bridge’s construction was negotiated over decades by both Democrat and Republican administrations and state leaders. The project faced massive pushback from the Moroun family, which privately owns the rival Ambassador Bridge and is a major Republican donor.
In a 2012 deal signed by Snyder, the Republican governor at the time, Canada agreed to shoulder the cost of construction, which it would recoup through tolls.
The Trump administration endorsed the bridge project in 2017 during his first term in office.
Democrat state lawmakers were quick to condemn the president’s threats to stall the bridge’s opening. Sen. Elissa Slotkin posted on social media that “cancelling this project will have serious repercussions.”
Detroit Regional Chamber president and CEO Sandy K. Baruah said “Canada is more than a neighbour; it is critical to our economic future. There is no greater example of that than the international bridge.”
In Ottawa, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said “that bridge will stand for over a century as a monument to Canadian and American friendship, ingenuity, work and partnership.”
“I don’t know what motivated the statement (Monday), but what I do know is that bridge will stand the test of time,” he said.
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