Prime Minister Mark Carney said he spoke to his U.S. counterpart early Tuesday morning about the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which Donald Trump has threatened to block, explaining to him that Canadians paid for the bridge in full and that the Americans already have an ownership stake.
Carney said he told Trump that the federal government paid some $4 billion to build the Windsor-Detroit bridge and that it was built with Canadian and U.S. workers and steel from both countries, despite the president’s bogus claims that there was “virtually no U.S. content” used during construction.
While Trump said the federal government owns “both the Canada and the United States side,” the bridge is, in fact, publicly owned by both Canada and Michigan.
The Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement, signed between the two jurisdictions in 2012, guarantees its joint, binational ownership despite Canada paying all upfront costs associated with construction.
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which connects Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, is seen from the Canadian side in a Feb. 10, 2026, aerial image. (Jacob Barker/CBC)
The Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, which will be responsible for operating the bridge, is a Canadian Crown corporation. The International Authority, which is composed of an equal number of representatives from Canada and Michigan, has oversight over the bridge.
“This is a great example of co-operation between our countries. I look forward to its opening,” Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill on Tuesday morning.
“What is particularly important, of course, is the commerce and the tourism and the voyages of Canadians and Americans that will go across that bridge.”
WATCH | Trump says U.S. should own ‘at least one half’ of bridge:
Trump says U.S. should own ‘at least one half’ of Gordie Howe bridge
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit. CBC’s Pratyush Dayal reports.
Carney said the U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, a Michigander, will “play a role in smoothing the conversation in and around the bridge.”
“It was a positive conversation,” Carney said, adding he told Trump that Canada’s women’s hockey team will beat the Americans in their Olympic matchup today. “It’s a big game today and we’re going to win.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford seemed unfazed by Trump’s latest anti-Canada tirade.
“Make no mistake about it, as sure as I’m talking to you, I’m very confident the bridge is going to open,” Ford told reporters on Tuesday.
“It’s going to open because it’s in the best interest of the American economy,” he said, pointing to the Michigan politicians who have condemned Trump’s remarks while voicing support for the bridge.
“If President Trump didn’t want it to go forward, why did he fast track it? All of a sudden, he changed his mind and it’s not good,” Ford said.
Before Trump threatened to block the bridge on Monday, he had made positive statements about the new link. “We look forward to the expeditious completion of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will serve as a vital economic link between our two countries,” Trump said in a joint statement with former prime minister Justin Trudeau in 2017.
The bridge has already been a boon for local economies in both countries.
According Ontario government data, the project has supported 12,670 jobs in Michigan, with more than 8,800 American labourers and tradespeople doing work on U.S. components of the 2.5-kilometre bridge that will allow for an uninterrupted flow of people and goods from Highway 401 on the Canadian side to Interstate 75 in the States, bypassing other congested crossings.
A photo of hockey great Gordie Howe is shown on the waterfront in Windsor, Ont., at the May 2015 announcement that the Detroit River International Crossing will be named the Gordie Howe International Bridge. (Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press)
Carney said he also discussed issues around the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) with Trump on the call.
In an interview with Fox Business, Jamieson Greer, Trump’s trade representative and point-person on CUSMA, said there will be “a negotiation specific to the bridge,” and he suggested the Americans want a cut of any toll revenue raised by Canada.
Canada is set to collect that toll money to recoup the costs of paying for a bridge, which will benefit businesses and workers on both sides of the border, without any U.S. financial assistance. After Canada has recovered the construction costs it shouldered alone, Michigan will be eligible to receive 50 per cent of net toll revenues.
Greer said the U.S. is “the main economy” and many times bigger than Canada and it should be compensated for allowing goods to be sold into its territory.
“The United States needs to make sure it has its fair share of any proceeds from that bridge and the economic activity that it generates.”
Carney is shown after delivering remarks at the still-under-construction Gordie Howe International Bridge last year. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)
Greer also spoke about the Ambassador Bridge, the neighbouring crossing owned privately by the American Moroun family, a major Republican political donor that spent years fighting the construction of the competing new bridge.
Greer said “the U.S. has more of a say” with that bridge, which has made the Moroun family billionaires. “We just want to make sure our economic and national security is preserved,” he said.
The New York Times reported Tuesday evening that Matthew Moroun met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Monday in Washington. After that meeting, Lutnick spoke with Trump by phone about the matter, the Times reported, citing two officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. Trump’s threat came shortly afterward.
Former Michigan governor Rick Snyder, a Republican who helped broker the deal with Canada to build the bridge, said in a Detroit News op-ed after Trump’s social media rant that “Canada was wonderful and financed the entire bridge. Michigan and the United States got their half-ownership with no investment. That is a great deal.”
“If the GHIB is delayed or stopped, there actually is one big winner: The Maroun family and the Ambassador Bridge Company. Over the decades, they have spent millions trying to stop the GHIB. Why? Every day, they make much more money at our expense.”
Snyder said reliance on the nearly century-old Ambassador Bridge, which has shown signs of decay in the past, has “hindered commerce for decades and increased costs for manufacturing operations. The GHIB will solve these problems and provide for faster economic growth on both sides.”
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau and former Michigan governor Rick Snyder pose with construction apprenticeship students in Windsor, Ont., in 2018. (Troy Shantz/The Canadian Press)
Beyond conflict over the forthcoming bridge, Greer also said early CUSMA negotiations with Canada have not been going very well.
“The Mexicans are being quite pragmatic right now.… With the Canadians it’s more challenging,” he told Fox Business. “There are a variety of issues they haven’t addressed — and they aren’t addressing.”
In December, Greer had laid out what the Americans expect Canada to do to ensure CUSMA clears this year’s review process, including more access for U.S. farmers to the Canadian dairy market and an end to the provincial U.S. liquor boycott.
