President Donald Trump has threatened to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a near-complete U.S.-Canada megaproject set to open in 2026, prompting swift pushback from Michigan officials who say the bridge is vital to regional trade and jobs.
In a Feb. 9 post on the Truth Social platform, Trump said he would not allow the bridge to open unless the U.S. is “fully compensated” for what it has provided Canada and suggested the U.S. should have a stake in the asset. The comments inject political uncertainty into a project that is already under construction and entering final commissioning.
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The $5.9 million US-Canada Gordie Howe Bridge is scheduled to open next year
Michigan officials warned that the threat puts economic interests at risk. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat, said blocking the bridge would have “serious repercussions,” the Associated Press reported, raising costs for businesses, weakening supply chains and costing jobs in a state that relies heavily on cross-border trade with Canada.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office took a more defiant tone. A spokesman said the bridge was built with union labor on both sides of the border and will bolster Michigan’s industry and auto manufacturing base, adding, “It’s going to open one way or another.” The governor, the spokesman said, looks forward to the ribbon cutting. Debbie Dingell MP described the project as critical to the national economy and said she is “waiting for the bridge to open”, while Shri Thanedar MP said blocking the passage would be “madness”.
The cable-stayed bridge over the Detroit River is being delivered under a public-private partnership of Bridging North America, with construction led by Fluor. The approximately $4.4 billion project includes the bridge span, new US and Canadian customs plazas and freeway connections. Major construction is substantially complete, with the remaining work focused on the installation, testing and operational readiness of the systems.
Canada, through the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, is funding the project and plans to recoup its investment through toll revenue. The crossing is intended to ease congestion on the privately owned Ambassador Bridge and provide redundancy for the Detroit-Windsor corridor, which handles about a quarter of all US-Canada trade by value, making it one of North America’s most critical freight gateways.
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Although Canada has funded the project, the bridge cannot open to traffic without approval as an international port of entry by US Customs and Border Protection, giving the US federal government a procedural role in the final steps toward opening. Under federal law, CBP does not approve or certify the construction of the bridge itself, but is responsible for designating and staffing the ports of entry. The statutes governing this process focus on operational readiness, security, and inspection capacity, including the functionality of inspection facilities, personnel, and systems needed to process traffic. Ownership structure, financing arrangements, or broader trade disputes are not among the criteria CBP is authorized to consider when certifying a port of entry.
This framework is consistent with how CBP has handled other major crossings. ENR previously reported that at the San Ysidro land port of entry in California, new inspection facilities were opened in phases as construction was completed and personnel and systems were brought online, rather than being locked down directly after the project was physically completed.
As a result, any federal action to delay the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge would likely have to be tied to administrative or operational determinations by CBP or other homeland security officials, rather than the physical condition of the bridge itself. As of late Feb. 9, neither transportation officials nor homeland security officials had announced any action to alter the project’s opening schedule.
This is a developing story and will be updated as federal agencies and Canadian officials respond.
