U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to block the opening of a 1.5-mile-long Gordie Howe Bridge between Detroit, U.S., and Windsor, Ontario, in Canada. The bridge was poised to become the newest, and much-needed, crossing between the two North American neighbours.
“I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve. We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY,” the U.S. President wrote in a post on Truth Social on February 9, 2026. Interestingly, though, he did not say how he plans to block the opening.
Trump blasted Canada, alleging that the bridge was built “with virtually no U.S. content,” and accused Canada of having treated the United States “very unfairly for decades.”
Additionally, the President alleged that Canada owns both the Canadian and the United States side of the bridge. “With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset,” he wrote in his post.
However, these claims were debunked by media reports that pointed towards the 2012 agreement that laid out the terms of the agreement and clearly stated that the bridge is being built, operated, maintained, and fully funded by Canada (at a cost of more than $4 billion, but will be jointly owned by Canada and the state of Michigan. Furthermore, the agreement emphasizes that no country shall be given preference over any other, and that any iron and steel used in its construction must be produced in the United States or Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke with Donald Trump on Tuesday and that the two would resolve the matter.
“I spoke to the President this morning. Regarding the bridge, the situation is going to be resolved,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa without giving details.
“I explained that Canada, of course, paid for the construction of the bridge; that the ownership is shared between the state of Michigan and the government of Canada,” Carney said.
Carney said he told Trump, “there’s Canadian steel, Canadian workers, but also US steel, US workers that were involved” in construction.
Meanwhile, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer defended the multi-billion-dollar bridge, saying that unionized construction workers on both sides of the border built it.
“The Gordie Howe International Bridge is all about jobs. It’s good for Michigan workers, and it’s good for Michigan’s auto industry,” Whitmer’s press secretary Stacey LaRouche told CBC News. “This project has been a tremendous example of bipartisan and international cooperation. It’s going to open one way or another, and the governor looks forward to attending the ribbon cutting,” she added.
A Michigan-based Democrat, U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, said Trump was trying to punish the people of her state by threatening to block the bridge.
“President Trump’s threat tonight to tank it is awful for our state’s economy. Cancelling this project will have serious repercussions,” Slotkin wrote on social media. “The only reason Canada is on the verge of a trade deal with China is that President Trump has kicked them in the teeth for a year,” she wrote. “Canada is our friend — not our enemy.”
Interestingly, Trump’s warning comes as major construction on the bridge is now complete, as the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, the Crown corporation in charge of the project, has announced. The bridge will undergo final testing and inspections shortly, after which it could be open for use on both sides.
The bridge will provide continuous freeway traffic flow, unlike the existing arrangement with the adjacent Ambassador Bridge, which links to city streets on the Ontario side.
However, the American owners of the current Ambassador Bridge and the Canadian government have been engaged in a ten-year court dispute over the Gordie Howe Bridge.
The Moroun family from Detroit, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, asserts that the new bridge violates their exclusive toll-collection rights and has been seeking compensation for this. Earlier, for instance, the family urged Donald Trump to halt the bridge during his first term as President.
At the time, Trump supported the bridge as a priority project, calling it a “vital economic link between our two countries.”
However, a lot has changed since then, and the US-Canada ties are currently at one of their lowest point in modern history.
Earlier, Donald Trump threatened to impose 100% tariffs on goods imported from Canada if the latter signed a trade deal with Beijing. Following that, Carney clarified that the country has ‘no intention’ of pursuing a free trade agreement with China and explained that the trade between the two sides merely cuts tariffs on a few sectors.
Despite that, Trump said in his latest post that a deal signed between Canada and China last month would “Eat Canada Clive.” “The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate the Stanley Cup,” he stated.
The most populous province in Canada, Ontario, “won’t even put US spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves,” according to Trump’s complaints. In protest of U.S. taxes on Canadian goods, Ontario, like other Canadian provinces, removed American alcohol from its provincial liquor store’s shelves last year.
Before this, Trump riled up Ottawa in January when he said, “Canada lives because of the United States,” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In response, the Canadian PM said the two countries have a strong partnership built on security, trade, and cultural ties, but he made it clear: “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
After this very public display of acrimony between the two leaders, Trump cancelled his invitation for Carney to join the ‘Board of Peace.’
If that was not enough, on January 20, 2026, Trump posted an image on a social media platform of a map showing Canada and Venezuela covered in the U.S. flag, implying a full American takeover of both countries. Subsequent reports indicated that Canadian troops were preparing to thwart an American invasion.
Days later, Trump announced that he would decertify Bombardier Global Express business jets made in Canada and threatened to levy 50% tariffs on “all aircraft made in Canada” until Canadian authorities certified several planes made in the United States.
However, the blocking of a crucial link between the two countries has been seen as an economic misadventure.
The announcement drew angry responses from Canadian netizens, who took to social media to voice frustration with the U.S. President’s continuous policy attacks.
The Gordie Howe Bridge
The bridge, named after the great hockey player Gordie Howe, who played a large part of his career with the Detroit Red Wings and represented the close ties between the two countries, was until now seen as an attempt to improve security and economic efficiency at one of the busiest border crossings.
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, the Canadian crown corporation in charge of the bridge’s construction, claims that the bridge will provide “unparalleled benefits for supply chains, industry, and commercial users.” When opened, it will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and a boost to industry on both shores.
“So many of us on this side of the border — either us personally or the organizations we represent — have fought to get the Gordie Howe Bridge,” Sandy Baruah, President of the Detroit Regional Chamber, was quoted as saying.
Carmakers and other manufacturers have been forced to use the Ambassador Bridge to transport their goods between Windsor and Detroit for nearly a century. It has more crossings each year than the next two busiest cross-border bridges combined, the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan, and the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York.
In 2022, trucker demonstrations over COVID-19 vaccination requirements caused traffic jams that stretched for kilometres in Windsor, highlighting the need for another crossing.
This is where the Gordie Howe Bridge comes into the picture.
Designed by the world-renowned architecture firm AECOM, the sleek cable-stayed structure features towers that are 722 feet high and are intended to “reflect the curvature of a hockey stick in a slap shot.”
Currently, trucks coming into Detroit have to pass through neighbourhoods in Windsor, as there are about eight stoplights between the Ambassador Bridge and Ontario’s biggest roadway, the 401.
The Gordie Howe Bridge will directly connect Highway 401 in Ontario and I-75 in Michigan, avoiding gridlock in cities and antiquated checkpoints. According to some estimates, the bridge will help save about 850,000 truck hours annually by reducing crossing delays, translating into lifetime savings for shippers in the form of decreased labour, fuel, and inventory expenses totalling billions of dollars.
The Windsor-Detroit corridor supports over $700 billion in annual bilateral trade, accounting for more than a quarter of total Canada-US trade.
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