Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed that the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a new six-lane thoroughfare connecting Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario, will open by the end of this week.
The announcement came despite threats to the contrary from U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this year promised the bridge would not open without Canadian concessions.
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Mr. Carney spoke briefly to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, dodging questions about his behind-the-scenes negotiations with President Trump. Instead, he focused on praising the bridge as a feat of cross-border cooperation.
“It’s good news. Obviously the bridge will be open over the weekend,” Carney said, noting that the bridge is “both a symbol and a fact of cooperation” between the United States and Canada.
“This is great for Canadians crossing the border, great for Americans coming across the border, and great for commerce. And I want to pay tribute to the people who built this bridge on both sides and look forward to its completion.”
But the bridge’s fate was called into question in February after President Trump released a social media message calling the construction a means to exploit the United States.
His comments echoed criticisms raised by the Morone family, which owns the nearby Ambassador Bridge, another artery connecting the United States and Canada.
The family accused the Gordie Howe Bridge of unfair competition and filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the project.
He also led a bridge-destroying ad campaign during President Trump’s first term, calling the structure un-American.
Unlike the Ambassador Bridge, which is privately owned, the Gordie Howe Bridge will be jointly owned by the Canadian and Michigan governments.
However, President Trump incorrectly portrayed the construction project as a Canadian-only enterprise in a social media post in February.
“Imagine, Canada is building a huge bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canadian and U.S. sides,” Trump wrote.
“Now the Canadian government expects, as president of the United States, to only allow them to ‘exploit America.’ What does the United States have to gain? Nothing at all!”
President Trump also threatened to block completion of the final stage of the bridge. He added that Canada should provide “at least half of this asset” to the U.S. government.
“We will not allow this bridge to open until the United States fully compensates us for everything we have given, and importantly, until Canada treats us with the fairness and respect that we deserve,” Trump said.
This threat further escalated tensions between the United States and Canada. Since taking office for his second term, President Trump has repeatedly accused Canada of what he calls unfair trade practices and pressured the country to cede sovereignty to the United States.
The pressure continued this month, with President Trump renewing his call for Canada to become the “51st state” of the United States in a June 1 Truth Social post.
Traditionally, Canada and the United States have had a close relationship, and their economies are closely linked.
As of 2024, Canada will be the largest export destination for the United States. According to the U.S. government, trade between the two countries in the same year was estimated at more than $909.1 billion. And nearly half of Canada’s goods reportedly come from its southern neighbor.
However, shortly after his second term in office, Trump imposed heavy tariffs on Canada due to its lax border policies, sparking a trade war. Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs, some of which have since been repealed, but others remain.
President Trump’s broad global tariff campaign has suffered repeated setbacks in U.S. courts, but the Trump administration continues to move forward, exploring a variety of legal arguments to justify import taxes.
Most recently, the Trump administration proposed using the 1974 Trade Act to impose tariffs on 60 countries for relying on forced labor. Canada is also included in that number.
In response to deteriorating relations between the United States and Canada, Mr. Carney called for a coalition of “middle powers” to stand up to the world’s “great powers.”
Canada, Mexico, and the United States are currently in the midst of renegotiating a free trade agreement signed during the Trump administration’s first term in 2020.
Before it became a political football, the Gordie Howe Bridge was held up as a symbol of transnational partnership.
An agreement was reached to begin the project in 2012, and in 2017 President Trump issued a joint statement with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying he looked forward to the project’s “swift completion.”
The project cost approximately $6.4 billion and took approximately seven years to construct, which began in 2018.
Named after the famous Canadian hockey player who played for many years on a professional team in Detroit, the Gordie Howe Bridge is designed to ease supply chains, reduce traffic, and facilitate trade between the United States and Canada.
