Trump threatens to block new bridge in latest tirade against Canada | Donald Trump
As Democrats prepare to force the vote The president posted a lengthy diatribe in the US House of Representatives this week about Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, in which he threatened to close a bridge connecting the US and Canada on the social media platform and made a bizarre and inaccurate claim that increased trade between Canada and China would include banning Canadians from playing ice hockey.
Trump took office last screed “Everyone knows that the Nation of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades,” against the United States’ second-largest trading partner.
The president also threatened to block the planned opening of the $4.6 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, built by a binational partnership that received approval during the Obama administration but began construction in 2018, when Trump was president.
“I will not allow this bridge to be opened until the United States repays them in full for everything we have given them, and more importantly, Canada treats the United States with the fairness and respect we deserve,” Trump wrote Monday.
In 2012, Michigan’s then-governor Rick Snyder accepted the Canadian government’s offer to fund most of the cost of the new bridge and took the unusual step of using executive authority to bypass the legislature. Construction started in 2018 and the bridge is nearing completion. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a rule on January 30 declaring the bridge an official port of entry.
The Canadian embassy in Washington, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office and bridge officials had no immediate comment.
The reason for Trump’s anger appears to be a closer trade relationship with China negotiated by Canadian prime minister Mark Carney after Trump increased tariffs on Canadian imports. “China… will eat Canada alive,” Trump wrote.
To illustrate his point, Trump then added an extremely wild claim with no factual basis: “The first thing China will do is stop ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada and permanently eliminate the Stanley Cup.”
Trump’s outlandish claim that China would force Canada to give up its national pastime as part of a trade deal stunned many observers Monday who saw it in black and white, but Canadians have heard it before.
“Canada is not good, it’s very bad,” Trump said last month at the opening of his wife’s documentary about him. Broadcast by Canada’s CTV. “You can’t look to China for the answer,” Trump added.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, said “canceling this project will have serious consequences. There will be higher costs for Michigan businesses, less secure supply chains, and ultimately fewer jobs.”
He added that Trump is “punishing Michiganders for the trade war he started.” “The only reason Canada is on the brink of a trade deal with China is because President Trump kicked them in the teeth for a year.”
During his second term, Trump made a series of threats against Canada and greatly increased tariffs on the United States’ northern neighbor. Last month, he said he would impose 100% tariffs on Canada if a trade deal was struck with China.
