Gordie Howe bridge opening proceeds in Canada amid US tariff dispute
Canada held a solo ceremony for the Detroit-Windsor bridge after toll-sharing disputes and Trump’s tariff threats strained relations.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Canada marked the Gordie Howe bridge opening on Friday with a Canadian-only ceremony, Reuters reported, after a planned joint event with US officials was scrapped amid a dispute over toll revenue and new tariff threats from President Donald Trump.
The bridge connects Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit and is scheduled to open to traffic on Monday. The crossing is economically important because CA$274m ($194m) in trade moves each day between Windsor and Detroit, according to the Canadian government.
Canadian officials, invited guests and members of Gordie Howe’s family attended the event on the Canadian side, Reuters reported. Howe, the Detroit Red Wings star for whom the bridge is named, was honored with hockey-themed touches at the ceremony, and attendees were urged to wear red and white.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Trump’s tariffs had made Canada’s relationship with the United States harder, Reuters reported. Ford, wearing a red Team Canada jersey with Howe’s No. 9, said the bridge showed what the two countries could accomplish together and said Ontario would not yield to US pressure.
Why did Canada open the Gordie Howe bridge without US officials?
Canada cancelled the cross-border ribbon-cutting after tensions rose over how bridge tolls would be shared and after Trump threatened more tariffs on Canadian goods, Reuters reported. People at the Canadian ceremony were not allowed to cross to the US side of the bridge.
Trump said on Truth Social on Friday that it was “fine” Canada had “disinvited” the United States. He also said a prior bridge agreement “no longer stands” and claimed his administration had changed the terms so the United States would receive 50 percent of the profit.
The $4.7bn bridge was paid for by Canada, according to Reuters. Construction began in 2018, and the crossing had previously been expected to open in June.
The bridge is intended to offer a quicker option than the Ambassador Bridge over the Detroit River. Reuters reported that Matthew Moroun, a Detroit trucking magnate whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge for decades, has opposed the new crossing because it could reduce traffic and revenue at the older bridge.
The New York Times, citing campaign finance records, reported that Moroun gave $1m in January to a political action committee aligned with Trump. Reuters reported that the White House and the PAC have previously denied any link between that donation and Trump’s threats to block the new bridge.
What is the toll dispute about?
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada would share toll revenue only after it is paid back for the project, Reuters reported. A draft agreement released Wednesday said Canada would split net bridge and crossing-related revenue with the United States for the first 15 years, without explicitly saying Canada must be reimbursed first.
Carney said Thursday that an earlier agreement between Canada and Michigan still applies and that tolls would not be split under that agreement until the debt is repaid, according to Reuters. Neither Canada nor the United States has publicly estimated how much revenue the bridge will generate.
Nicolas Lamp, an associate professor and lawyer at Queen’s University’s Institute on Trade Policy, told Reuters the proposed deal appeared to conflict with the 2012 Canada-US agreement cited by Carney. Lamp said the wording allowed both governments to claim a win.
Don Abelson, a political science chair in Canada-US relations at McMaster University, told Reuters that opening the bridge while satisfying Trump was the immediate gain. He said Canada’s ability to recover the money spent on the bridge was important, but the broader trade relationship with the United States was more important.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.