The Trump administration is blocking the opening of the completed Gordie Howe International Bridge — the busiest U.S.-Canada trade corridor — with no timeline for resolution.
Why it matters: Every day the bridge stays closed costs truckers, manufacturers, and cross-border supply chains that depend on North America’s most critical trade artery.
- The bridge is done — but Trump won’t open it. Construction on the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge began in 2018 and was set to open earlier this year — until Trump intervened, demanding Canada share ownership with the United States before he would allow it to open. The ribbon-cutting was canceled at the last minute. NPR
- Commerce Secretary Lutnick is driving the holdup. Sources tell NPR that Canada agreed to front the entire cost of construction and to split toll fees with Michigan once costs are recouped — yet the administration is still blocking the opening over unspecified “outstanding issues.” NPR
- The delay is now spilling into Michigan’s Senate race. GOP candidate Mike Rogers criticized the bridge deal, saying Michigan “will never see any revenue from that thing for a long time — 100 years, someone told me” — a sign the standoff is becoming a defining political fault line heading into the fall. Deadline Detroit