The Windsor-Detroit border crossing, which for years has been restricted to the Ambassador Bridge, is the busiest Canada-U.S. crossing, reportedly carrying more than 25% of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States by value and sees 10,000+ trucks per day. Work has been underway for some time to add a new crossing, the Gordie Howe Bridge, to facilitate this large, and growing, volume of trade.
Given the economic significance of these bridges to the trade of both countries you would think that some care would be taken when discussing them. However, as happens so often with the current U.S. Administration, measured statements are not in the playbook. The recent hissy-fit from the U.S. President over the Gordie Howe Bridge, see Trump says he’ll block Gordie Howe Bridge from Michigan to Canada | CNN Politics and the details that are coming to light, illustrate the very craven, often factually incorrect, self-interest that goes into U.S. policy these days. And it also confirms what many believe, namely that what comes out of the President’s mouth depends on who he last spoke to. Stunning really…
From the Moroun family who have long opposed the loss of their monopoly rent from the Ambassador Bridge as a result of the new bridge; by way of the over-confident, arrogant, always smirking Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, to the President… an incorrect assessment of an important international file is relayed…and repeated as a priority of the U.S. Administration. Lutnick and Trump clearly don’t care… they get to reward past Moroun financial support to the Republican Party…they will be able to file it away and seek it as potential leverage in CUSMA or related “negotiations”… and in the short term will have one more news story to try to keep the Epstein scandal, which has now implicated both of them, out of the news cycle.
There has been some good reporting on how this story developed.
Morouns ramped up bridge lobbying before Trump’s Gordie Howe threats
Matthew Moroun, owner of the Ambassador Bridge, has also donated heavily to Republicans
Emma Loop · CBC News · Posted: Feb 12, 2026
It’s no secret that the Morouns, owners and operators of the nearly 100-year-old Ambassador Bridge connecting Michigan and Ontario, are no fan of the new competing span down the Detroit River.
The billionaire family has spent years — and millions of dollars — fighting the construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which once open will end their monopoly on commercial truck toll revenue in the area.
But an analysis of U.S. federal lobbying and campaign finance data sheds fresh light on how the family has sought to influence the political landscape around the busiest land border crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
Those efforts have drawn renewed scrutiny this week after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to block the opening of the more than $6-billion bridge that the Canadian government paid for in full, further inflaming tensions between the two countries.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Trump’s social media broadside came just hours after Michigan trucking titan Matthew Moroun, chairman of the company that oversees the Ambassador Bridge, met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington — and that Lutnick then spoke to the president by phone…
Source: CBC News
Prime Minister Carney has reportedly called President Trump to correct him on a number of points…
- Canada spent $6.4 billion building the bridge after U.S. failed to contribute to it
- The bridge is co-owned by Canada and the State of Michigan
- Construction used Canadian and U.S. steel, concrete and labour
- Once Canada recoups costs, toll revenue will accrue to both Canada and Mexico.
Canadian officials and politicians who have to engage with this U.S. crew are really working in dirty, swampy water. Keep them in your thoughts.
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