Democrats allege Trump administration stalled US-Canada bridge opening as a favor to billionaire donor | Business
The Trump administration blocked the $4.7 billion publicly owned bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, for months; Critics claim the move is a gratuitous move for a billionaire Donald Trump donor.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the Gordie Howe international bridge The project to connect Detroit and Windsor was originally planned for early June but was abruptly canceled due to disagreement between US and Canadian officials. On July 10, Canada announced that it had reached an agreement with the United States and that the bridge would open on July 27.
The delay drew intense scrutiny from Democrats, including U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib. in question The Trump administration blocked the bridge from opening as a favor to a donor who owned a nearby bridge.
Howe’s construction was funded by Canada, and the facility will be jointly owned and operated by the Michigan and Canadian governments. It was planned to open for the first time earlier this year after eight years of construction.
According to media reports, the new agreement requires US government approval if tolls are reduced below regional averages. The Canadian government had previously set toll prices, but the Trump administration appeared determined to preserve a nearby bridge owned by Matthew Moroun, son of transportation and real estate magnate Manuel Moroun.
The younger Moroun owns the nearby Ambassador Bridge, North America’s busiest international crossing point, and has owned it for decades. vehemently opposed He is planning the new bridge because he will lose his job.
As many as 3 million trucks cross the Detroit River over the Ambassador Bridge each year, and Moroun collects up to $100 for each one. But the 93-year-old bridge is often heavily congested with truck traffic, causing extremely long delays that slow and frustrate businesses trading internationally.
Delays have gotten so bad that many truckers and others are using a nearby tunnel or a bridge an hour north in Port Huron. The bridge was also built cited Due to safety violations in recent years, narrow lanes are considered a danger to first responders.
Howe was envisioned as a symbol of the close bond of the United States and Canada, but instead became a representation of the dysfunction in US foreign relations. Moroun wrote in capital letters; For the last twenty years his family mounted multi-pronged attacks against new plans and prolific campaign donor at the state and federal level.
Moroun donated $1 million to Trump’s political action committee (Pac) in January and February took a meeting With US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. Hours later, Trump is at Truth Social was threatened To avoid opening Howe. The June deadlines for opening have passed.
The emergence of a political favor led to bipartisan criticism and an investigation From Reps. Robert Garcia and Tlaib, members of the House oversight committee whose district includes southwest Detroit, where both bridges are located. The letter sent by members of Congress to Moroun accuses him of trying to “derail the project.”
“It appears you may have used your influence as a donor to President Donald Trump to jeopardize American commerce in order to protect your company’s profits,” the February letter said. Neither Tlaib, Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Corporation (DIBC), nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment.
The bridge became fodder for Democrats’ political attacks on Republicans. Abdul El-Sayed, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination for an open U.S. Senate race, has called for it, tying him with the GOP’s leading candidate, Mike Rogers. a campaign video “A disgusting tale of collusion and corruption.”
Opening the bridge requires the federal government to staff the U.S. entrance plaza in Howe, and DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin told the Senate appropriations committee on June 13: “We have dedicated, ready-to-go personnel.”
In February, a Trump spokesman told the Detroit Free Press that the president “consistently and vociferously defends American interests, including against Canada.”
At the time, Trump wrote on social media that “the United States should own half of the project” and promised to block the opening of the project “until everything we gave to the United States is paid in full.”
However, the USA already owns half of the project. Canada paid Howe’s money, and Michigan and Canada agreed to jointly operate it under a 2012 agreement. They will split the toll revenue 50-50 after Canada is refunded.
Observers say the fight comes amid and may be part of a broader trade row between the United States and Canada. Trump did not renew the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement by the July 1 deadline, and tariffs and other trade issues have caused friction.
Trump, administration officials and Trump’s allies in Michigan have offered outlandish suggestions about what should be done to open the bridge, including surcharges on Chinese cars. In February, Trump bizarrely claimed that China would “end all ice hockey in Canada” and cancel the Stanley Cup.
Democrats have blasted Republicans and Trump allies in the state for supporting the plan, using it as a campaign blitz as the 2026 midterm elections approach in this critical upper-Midwestern swing state where the president won twice and lost once. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Curtis Hertel called this “Trump’s plan to sabotage Michigan’s economy” in a statement to the Guardian.
He adds: “Trump’s chaos will lead to higher costs, fewer jobs, and more uncertainty for our state’s auto industry, and Michiganders will not forget that Republicans did nothing to stop it.”
