Amid President Donald Trump's recent declaration that he would block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Michigan and Canada's Ontario, a report said a family that owns a nearby bridge that would be hurt by the opening lobbied the Trump administration.
On the 9th (local time), Trump said on his social media, Truth Social, that the United States should be compensated for everything it has provided to Canada and that he would not allow the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge scheduled for the second half of the year until Canada treats the United States with fairness and respect.
On the 10th, the New York Times (NYT) reported, "The billionaire owner of a bridge consolidation Michigan and Canada met U.S. Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick hours before President Donald Trump publicly criticized the competing route," adding, "This is another flashpoint amid worsening U.S.-Canada relations."
According to two people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity, Detroit-based billionaire Matthew Moroun met Minister Lutnick in Washington the previous day, and afterward Minister Lutnick had a currency with President Trump about the issue. The NYT said Trump's remarks blocking the opening of the Canadian bridge came shortly after.
Moroun is a major Republican donor and a Detroit-based trucking magnate, and his family has operated the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, since 1979. The Ambassador Bridge handles annual traffic of 6.2 million vehicles, but as a nearly 100-year-old structure, it has faced persistent safety concerns.
If the Gordie Howe International Bridge opens, toll revenue from the Ambassador Bridge, which has brought the Moroun family substantial revenue for decades, will inevitably fall. For that reason, even in 2018 during Trump's first term, the Moroun family is said to have lobbied the Trump administration to halt construction of the bridge.
CNN reported, "The billionaire Moroun family, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, fears that a new publicly owned bridge would create competition for the toll revenue it has collected for decades," adding, "The family's company also runs duty-free operations and fuel sales at the border checkpoint."
President Trump says the United States should own at least half of the bridge for the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge and share the revenue generated during operations. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, into which a total of $4.7 billion (about 7 trillion won) has been invested, was built entirely at Canada's expense and is to be jointly operated by the Canadian government and Michigan.
The U.S. Commerce Department and the Moroun family declined to comment on the meeting between Minister Lutnick and Moroun. However, considering that in 2017, during Trump's first term, a joint statement after a summit with Canada released support for building the Gordie Howe Bridge, the Moroun family's lobbying likely influenced the current stance of blocking the opening to some extent.
Rick Snyder, a Republican former Michigan governor who pushed construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, wrote in a Detroit News op-ed that "if the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge is delayed or halted, there is only one beneficiary: the Moroun family and the Ambassador Bridge," noting, "the Ambassador Bridge has hindered trade for decades and increased manufacturing operating expense."