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.
The $6.4 billion cost of the Gordie Howe bridge has been entirely funded by Canada’s federal government.
Construction on the six-lane crossing first began in 2018 and was on track to be completed at the end of last year, with the opening forecast for an undefined date in early 2026.
The new bridge has been the focus of a decade-long legal battle between the American owners of the existing Ambassador Bridge and the federal government.
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.”
