Canada on Friday held an opening ceremony for the Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, following eight years of construction amid an ongoing trade dispute with the US.
Canadian officials in Windsor marked the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Canadian side of the crossing without the participation of US representatives.
Attending the ceremony were representatives of the Canadian government, the Ontario province, the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, Bridging North America, and family members of the late Canadian ice hockey star the bridge is named for.
Gregor Robertson, Canada’s housing and infrastructure minister, said he believes the Gordie Howe Bridge will open Monday, even though US authorities have not confirmed the date on their side of the border.
“We’re really looking forward to that. The systems are all go here on this side of the border, and we understand on the US side as well,” Robertson said. “We have a new agreement in principle that set that course for the Monday opening.”
US President Donald Trump said Friday that “original deal” on the opening of the bridge “no longer stands,” brushing off Ottawa’s decision to open the bridge without Washington.
“Canada disinvited the United States of America to the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which is fine, considering they are paying substantial TARIFFS to the United States, but the original Deal on the Bridge, which was terribly negotiated by a previous Administration, no longer stands,” Trump said.
“We changed the terms of the Deal so that the United States of America now gets 50% of the Profit,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Washington this week announced additional 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods, covering products from wine to hockey sticks to cement, according to the White House.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives earlier this year opened an investigation into a months-long US delay on opening the bridge, alleging that Trump did so as a favor to a large donor to Republicans who owns a nearby US-Canada bridge.
