The Gordie Howe International Bridge was supposed to be a shared prize — a $4.5 billion, six-lane span across the Detroit River that the United States and Canada once jointly hailed as “a vital economic link between our two countries.”
It is expected to open to traffic on Monday. On Friday, Canadians cut the ribbon by themselves.
Days before the two nations were to inaugurate the 1.5-mile bridge together, President Donald Trump’s administration accused Canada of discriminating against U.S. automobiles and certain alcohol and dairy products, and announced a 50% tariff on a range of Canadian goods. Canada scrapped the planned joint ceremony — the kind of pomp and pageantry Trump typically embraces — and marked the occasion on its own.
“In light of trade action threatened by the United States earlier this week, it would be inappropriate to proceed with a celebratory event between the two countries,” a spokesperson for Canada’s Office of the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure said in a statement.
Trump called the disinvitation “fine” in a post on Truth Social, since Canadians are “paying substantial tariffs to the United States.” He also railed against the original deal on the bridge — under which Canada paid for the construction of the entire bridge, agreeing to recoup its costs with tolls — which he said was “terribly negotiated by a previous administration.”
That agreement dates to the Obama administration, which issued the presidential permit allowing Michigan to proceed. Construction did not begin until 2018, during Trump’s first term — and after a February 2017 meeting at which Trump and then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement anticipating the “expeditious completion” of a bridge that would serve as “a vital economic link between our two countries.”
“Nothing will change the fact that President Trump renegotiated an incredible deal for America on the Gordie Howe Bridge, and nothing will deter President Trump from negotiating more good deals for American workers, industries, and taxpayers,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
For the businesses on either side of the river, the standoff lands on a tightly interwoven regional economy.
“Michigan and Ontario are a really integrated economy — and it’s not just the automotive industry, although there’s huge integration there,” said Sandy Baruah, CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “Small businesses get customers from Canada. We get parts from Canada, and vice versa.”
Baruah’s group has not been reflexively opposed to the White House. “We like many things that this administration has done. This one, not so much,” he said of the tariffs, warning that levies on the automobiles, furniture and appliances Michigan makes are “bad for our business.”
Friday’s snub was the second time this year that a joint celebration had fallen apart.
In January, billionaire businessman Matthew Moroun — whose family owns the existing Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario — donated $1 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump. The Moroun family has waged legal battles for many years in an effort to stop a second Detroit-Windsor span from being built.
Less than a month later, Moroun met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Following that meeting, Lutnick immediately called Trump to discuss the conversation, according to the New York Times. Hours later, Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with what he called Canada’s “unfair” treatment of the U.S. on trade and its full ownership of both the Canadian and American side of the bridge. In the post, he declared he would not allow the bridge to open until the U.S. is “fully compensated” and treated with “fairness and respect,” and that negotiations would begin immediately.
Eventually, a June 15 opening date was set, and invitations went out for a ribbon-cutting ceremony with dignitaries from both countries, according to The Detroit News. It appeared to signal that the two countries had reached an agreement. But days before the scheduled opening, the ceremony was postponed. A statement released by Chuck Andary, the bridge authority’s interim chief executive, explained the delay by citing the need for both countries to take the “necessary time to resolve any outstanding issues,” but did not specify what those issues were.
Officials were eventually able to reach an agreement, and Trump announced that the bridge could open in July, claiming to have secured a “much better deal for America.” Under its terms, Canada and the U.S. will split the net profits from bridge and crossing for the first 15 years; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has noted that profits will be minimal in that time, paid only after Canada recoups the cost of the bridge. The payments will be made to a newly established U.S.-Canada Economic Development Fund and will be solely controlled by the U.S. government per the agreement.
It is unclear how those funds will be used.
Laura Haefeli contributed reporting.
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