The Gordie Howe Bridge Between Canada And The U.S. Was Opened After Concessions Were Made To Trump

The U.S. president had previously threatened to block the launch, but managed to secure a profit-sharing agreement with Canada.

The bridge connecting the Canadian province of Ontario and the state of Michigan opened on July 27. The first car to cross it was driven by the family of hockey player Gordie Howe, after whom the bridge is named.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge was originally scheduled to open in June, but that did not happen due to a financial dispute. Last week, Canada canceled the joint ribbon-cutting ceremony with the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s decision to impose new tariffs.

In February, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he would not allow the bridge to open until Canada granted Washington “at least half” of the ownership rights to the structure and a share of its future “astronomical” revenues.

On July 10, Canada announced that it had reached an agreement with the U.S. government on a number of cooperative measures. These relate to toll management and transparency, as well as investment in the region. Specifically, a 15-year economic development fund will be established to receive a portion of the profits from the bridge’s operation. Trump stated that he had secured a “much more favorable deal” for the U.S., which will allow construction of the bridge to begin.

Reuters, citing sources, reports that the U.S. will receive 50% of the profits from toll road fees and will also be able to veto any toll increase exceeding the current 10%.

The Gordy Howe International Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Detroit River that connects the city of Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor. The bridge is designed to provide a direct connection between the I-75 highway system in the U.S. and Highway 401 in Canada.

Plans to build the bridge were first discussed in the 2000s. The idea was approved in 2012 during the Barack Obama administration. Construction is being carried out by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, an organization wholly owned by the Canadian government. The Canadian government is also funding the project. According to the original plans, once opened, the bridge would be jointly owned by the governments of Canada and the state of Michigan.

In 2015, the bridge was officially named after Canadian hockey legend Gordie Howe, who played for the Detroit Red Wings. In terms of goals scored in the NHL regular season, this forward is second only to Russian Alexander Ovechkin and his compatriot Wayne Gretzky.

The new bridge’s direct competitor is the privately owned Ambassador Bridge, which has been owned for nearly half a century by the family of American billionaire Manuel Morun (Morun died in 2020; Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.5 billion). For decades, the Morun family has fought against the construction of a rival bridge and for the expansion of their own bridge. The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest border crossing between Canada and the U.S., handling nearly a quarter of all border crossings. Daily cross-border trade volume across the bridge exceeds $300 million.

The new bridge will reduce the load on the Ambassador Bridge, which handled $126 billion in commercial cargo in 2023, Reuters notes.

During his first presidential term, Donald Trump spoke favorably of the project. In 2017, he and then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement in which they called the Gordie Howe Bridge “a vital economic link between the two countries.”

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