1929
The Ambassador Bridge connects Windsor, Canada with Detroit, Michigan. It carries more than 25% of the total trade between the Canada and the United States. 2.3 million trucks crossed the bridge in 2024, at a toll rate of $15 to $20 per crossing. The Ambassador Bridge was built in 1929, 97 years ago. Perhaps, some things have changed a bit since the Detroit built Ford Model T Runabout trucks first started crossing (carrying moonshine in those Prohibition days, I’m sure).
And, the Ambassador Bridge is one of the few private international bridges in the United States. The $60,000,000 in toll fees go to a company founded by the late Detroit billionaire, Manuel Maroun. That’s sixty to seventy percent of the total commercial traffic in the region.
2012
In 2012, the United States and Canada agreed to build a second bridge from Windsor to Detroit. It was a “sweet deal” for the US. Canada would build the bridge, pay for it, and give half to the United States upon completion. It sounds like a “Trumpian” deal, like Mexico and THE WALL. But unlike most Trump agreements, this was a real one with the Obama Administration.
The Gordie Howe Bridge was due open last week. All six lanes are completed. The direct connections to I-75 are built and ready to open, as are the direct connections to the Trans-Canada Highway. All of the Customs stations on both sides are ready to go. But the bridge remains closed.
There have been a series of court battles led by the Ambassador Bridge company. After all, they’ve had a virtual monopoly over the Windsor-Detroit commercial crossing for nearly a century. (Note: there is a tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, one lane each way opened in 1930. But it doesn’t allow for commercial trucks). To get TO another bridge from the US to Canada, commercial trucks are forced to go to Port Huron, a sixty mile one-way trip.
Those legal cases are all but cleared (one exception, a case still percolating through the Canadian courts). The new bridge could open. The “cork” holding back trade in Detroit could come “out of the bottle”.
2026
That is: until the Ambassador Bridge owners gave a $1 million donation to the Trump Campaign Fund. Now, the beautiful new bridge remains closed, as the Trump Administration finds one reason or another to stall it.
Looking for another example of the Trump Administration? Is the now-green reflecting pool on the National Mall not enough? How about the current proposal for the US Postal Service to “regulate” mail-in ballots, “vetting” whether they are going to and coming from US citizens? Or the completely disastrous attack on Iran? And then there’s Greenland.
Here’s one that’s “cut-and-dry”.
How does a company keep it’s century old monopoly on the international trade in Detroit? They buy it. That’s the Trump Administration, whether it comes to bridges, or pardons, or broadcast licenses for television. The actions of the executive branch of the United States government are, literally, for sale to the highest bidder.
Ante-Up
So why don’t the Gordie Howe Bridge folks just fall in line and ante-up? Because that’s not how business is done, in Canada. They seem to think that a deal is a deal. This one was cut back in 2012. And by the way, it’s a good deal for Canada, opening a whole new artery into the American market. It’s a great deal for Detroit, bringing competition (some would call if capitalism) to the commercial traffic in the region. And, of course, it’s a great deal for the United States. It’s literally something for nothing.
And there’s one other factor to consider. One of Trump’s greatest goals is to tarnish every accomplishment made by the Obama Administration. Whether it’s the Affordable Care Act, or the Reflecting Pool, the Iran Nuclear Deal or the Gordie Howe Bridge; if Obama made it, Trump wants to kill it.
Corruption in the White House is not a new concept to Americans. Many cabinet members enriched themselves on the sale of US land in the Teapot Dome scandal back when the Ambassador Bridge was built in the 1920’s. And while Ulysses Grant left the White House in bad financial shape, many “carpetbaggers” and railroad magnates illicitly made it rich under his administration. Even Bill Clinton left the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House open for big donors.
But it’s never been quite so flagrant, quite so “cost of doing business” as it is in the Trump Administration. So don’t plan on driving the Gordie Howe Bridge (or walking on the free pedestrian path) anytime soon.
That cork is “bought and paid for”. and it remains firmly in the bottle.
