The Ambassador Bridge connects Windsor, Canada with Detroit, Michigan.\u00a0\u00a0It carries more than 25% of the total trade between the Canada and the United States.\u00a0\u00a02.3 million trucks crossed the bridge in 2024, at a toll rate of $15 to $20 per crossing.\u00a0\u00a0The Ambassador Bridge was built in 1929, 97 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps, 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\u2019m sure).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, the Ambassador Bridge is one of the few private international bridges in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0The $60,000,000 in toll fees go to a company founded by the late Detroit billionaire, Manuel Maroun. That\u2019s sixty to seventy percent of the total commercial traffic in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2012, the United States and Canada agreed to build a second bridge from Windsor to Detroit.\u00a0\u00a0It\u00a0\u00a0was a \u201csweet deal\u201d for the US. Canada would build the bridge, pay for it, and give half to the United States upon completion.\u00a0\u00a0It sounds like a \u201cTrumpian\u201d deal, like Mexico and THE WALL.\u00a0\u00a0But unlike most Trump agreements, this was a real one with the Obama Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gordie Howe Bridge was due open last week.\u00a0\u00a0All six lanes are completed.\u00a0\u00a0 The direct connections to I-75 are built and ready to open, as are the direct connections to the Trans-Canada Highway.\u00a0\u00a0All of the Customs stations on both sides are ready to go.\u00a0\u00a0But the bridge remains closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been a series of court battles led by the Ambassador Bridge company.\u00a0\u00a0After all, they\u2019ve had a virtual monopoly over the Windsor-Detroit commercial crossing for nearly a century.\u00a0\u00a0(Note:\u00a0\u00a0there is a tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, one lane each way opened in 1930.\u00a0\u00a0But it doesn\u2019t allow for commercial trucks).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To get TO another bridge from the US to Canada, commercial trucks are forced to go to Port Huron, a sixty mile one-way trip.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those legal cases are all but cleared (one exception, a case still percolating through the Canadian courts).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The new bridge could open.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201ccork\u201d holding back trade in Detroit could come \u201cout of the bottle\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is:\u00a0\u00a0until the Ambassador Bridge owners gave a $1 million donation to the Trump Campaign Fund.\u00a0\u00a0Now, the beautiful new bridge remains closed, as the Trump Administration finds one reason or another to stall it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking for another example of the Trump Administration?\u00a0\u00a0Is the now-green reflecting pool on the National Mall not enough?\u00a0\u00a0How about the current proposal for the US Postal Service to \u201cregulate\u201d mail-in ballots, \u201cvetting\u201d whether they are going to and coming from US citizens?\u00a0\u00a0Or the completely disastrous attack on Iran?\u00a0\u00a0And then there\u2019s Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s one that\u2019s \u201ccut-and-dry\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How does a company keep it\u2019s century old monopoly on the international trade in Detroit?\u00a0\u00a0They buy it.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s the Trump Administration, whether it comes to bridges, or pardons, or broadcast licenses for television.\u00a0\u00a0The actions of the executive branch of the United States government are, literally, for sale to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So why don\u2019t the Gordie Howe Bridge folks just fall in line and ante-up?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because that\u2019s not how business is done, in Canada.\u00a0\u00a0They seem to think that a deal is a deal.\u00a0\u00a0This one was cut back in 2012.\u00a0\u00a0And by the way, it\u2019s a good deal for Canada, opening a whole new artery into the American market.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a great deal for Detroit, bringing competition (some would call if capitalism) to the commercial traffic in the region.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, it\u2019s a great deal for the United States.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s literally something for nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there\u2019s one other factor to consider.\u00a0\u00a0One of Trump\u2019s greatest goals is to tarnish every accomplishment made by the Obama Administration.\u00a0\u00a0Whether it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corruption in the White House is not a new concept to Americans.\u00a0\u00a0Many 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\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0And while Ulysses Grant left the White House in bad financial shape, many\u00a0\u00a0\u201ccarpetbaggers\u201d and railroad magnates illicitly made it rich under his administration.\u00a0\u00a0Even Bill Clinton left the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House open for big donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it\u2019s never been quite so flagrant, quite so \u201ccost of doing business\u201d as it is in the Trump Administration.\u00a0\u00a0So don\u2019t plan on driving the Gordie Howe Bridge (or walking on the free pedestrian path) anytime soon.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That cork is \u201cbought and paid for\u201d. and it remains firmly in the bottle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"