A new cross-border showpiece is ready, but the celebration isn’t. The long-planned dedication and opening of the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, which was slated for Friday, has been put on hold with no new date announced. The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority offered no specific reason when making the announcement Thursday, but sources told the Detroit Free Press the delay is meant to give the Trump administration more time to engage, including officials at the Commerce and State Departments. President Trump had threatened to block the opening.
One source said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the White House have been talking about the opening since February, when Trump publicly tied it to Canadian trade concessions despite Canada footing the entire construction bill under a deal approved during the Obama administration. The bridge is jointly owned by Canada and Michigan. Both governments now say they need time to “resolve any outstanding issues.” Whitmer said she hopes the opening will happen within “days or weeks,” while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said there’s no drama, though he didn’t say what the holdup is.
“We need to keep this very much in perspective,” said Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber and former US assistant secretary of commerce, per the AP. “Our organization, the State of Michigan and others have been working on this bridge for 20 years. If it opens July 1, Aug. 1 or Sept. 1, I’m not going to get overly agitated about it. This is a long-term play.”
