Trump threatens to block opening of new bridge between Windsor and Detroit
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to block the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, poised to become the newest border crossing between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit.
"I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve," Trump wrote in the post on Monday.
CBC News has asked the White House for further clarification.
Trump made the threat amid a
299-word post in which he said Canada has treated the U.S. "very unfairly for decades," complained that the bridge was built "with virtually no U.S. content" and repeated his criticism of Prime Minister Mark Carney "wanting to make a trade deal with China."
"With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset," he wrote.
The $6.4 billion cost of the Gordie Howe bridge has been entirely funded by Canada's federal government, but the bridge is under the public joint ownership of Canada and the state of Michigan.
Construction on the six-lane crossing first began in 2018.
Major construction is now complete, according to the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, the Crown corporation overseeing the project, which is being built through a public-private partnership. Final testing and inspections remain, with the opening
expected for sometime early this year.
The Gordie Howe Bridge has been the focus of a decade-long legal battle between the American owners of the existing Ambassador Bridge and the federal government.
Trump endorsed new bridge in 2017
The owners of the Ambassador Bridge, the Moroun family of Detroit,
wants compensation for what they claim is the new bridge's infringement on their exclusive right to collect tolls.
The Moroun family
appealed to Trump during his first term as president to stop the new crossing. However, Trump
endorsed the bridge as a priority project in 2017, issuing a joint statement with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau calling it a "vital economic link between our two countries."
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says parts of Trump's post are factually incorrect, as U.S. steel was used in the construction from the Michigan side of the river.
"It's just insane," Dilkens told CBC
Power & Politics host David Cochrane on Monday evening.
"I really can't believe what I'm reading," Dilkens said. "The faster we can get to the midterms and hopefully see a change, the better for all of us."
