Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said the bridge connecting Ontario, Canada, and Michigan across the Detroit River will have an official ribbon-cutting ceremony by the end of the week.
The announcement is notable, considering President Donald Trump threatened to block the Gordie Howe International Bridge from opening in February when tensions between the United States and Canada were particularly high.
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Carney said he is looking forward to the bridge’s anticipated opening on Friday, calling the structure not only “a symbol but also a fact of cooperation between our countries.”
“Great for Canadians going across the border, Americans coming across the border, and for commerce,” he told reporters before heading into a Parliament meeting. “I just want to salute those who constructed it on both sides, and [I’m] looking forward to getting it done.”
Carney did not specify exactly when the bridge will open for business, but traffic is expected to begin crossing the bridge on June 15.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, named after a Canadian ice hockey legend, has been under construction for nearly eight years. The Canadian government funded the entire project, estimated at $4.7 to $4.8 billion, through taxpayer money that will be recouped through tolls. For each passenger vehicle crossing the 1.5-mile bridge one way, the toll will be $5.75.
The Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, also located nearby on the Detroit River, are nearly 100 years old.
The Ambassador Bridge, owned by American billionaire Matthew Moroun, sits just down the river from the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Moroun’s bridge has been a critical transit point for the automotive industry, as companies repeatedly ship parts back and forth across during the construction of a car.
The industry’s needs increased traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, so a modern bridge to accommodate increased traffic was a priority for government officials.
The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is jointly owned by the respective cities. Canada and Michigan will similarly own the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
Four months ago, Trump warned Canada he would keep the bridge closed unless the U.S. was “fully compensated for everything we have given them” and, in return, was given “the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.”
At the time, the president bemoaned Ontario’s boycott of U.S. alcohol and Carney’s friendly diplomatic overtures to China.
“Ontario won’t even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now, on top of everything else, Prime Minister Carney wants to make a deal with China — which will eat Canada alive,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We’ll just get the leftovers! I don’t think so.”
The Washington Examiner contacted the White House for comment on whether its position on the bridge remains the same.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who clashed with Trump over trade disputes and tariffs, said he has heard conflicting information about the bridge’s opening.
“Let’s see if it opens or not,” he said, per the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Hopefully, it will.”
CARNEY DEFENDS CANADA’S BAN ON US ALCOHOL OVER ‘VIOLATIONS OF OUR TRADE DEAL’
Ford is meeting with U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., this week to agree on extending the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement before the trade deal’s review deadline on July 1. The trade pact is set to expire in 2036 if the three parties can’t agree to renew it. Ford is hopeful about the deal.
“It’s not going to happen tomorrow,” the Ontario politician said, “but it’s headed in the right direction.”
